Full Article Posted on MobileMarketer.com | March 27, 2009
By Dan Butcher
The Yes Network, the official TV channel of MLB’s New York Yankees, is running free-to-consumer, ad-supported SMS alerts.
The text-message alerts are powered by 4Info. The initiative lets consumers get news and score alerts for their favorite teams on their mobile phone and gives advertisers the opportunity to reach Yankee fans.
“SMS alerts are something that we started doing as a way to provide enhanced value to our customers so that our viewers can get up-to-date scores and news from the Yes Network,” said Michael Spirito, vice president of business development and digital for the Yes Network, New York. “It’s an opportunity to extend our brand into the mobile universe, and we’ve seen it grow in popularity over time.
First, consumers choose what kinds of SMS alerts they’d like to receive on the Yes Network Web site, such as news and score updates in categories including “Yankees News,” “Nets News” and “Local Sports News.”
“The minute salient news about the team hits our Web site, it’s going to be editorialized and put into a text message for our subscribers,” Mr. Spirito said. “We make sure only the top-line news stories are going out, no more than three-to-five per day.
Opportunity for advertisers
The Yankees SMS alerts are promoted on-air during Yes Network broadcasts, as well as on the Web site.
Brands advertising within the Yes text messages range from Papa John’s and Avis to TV networks such as HBO, Starz and Spike. The SMS alerts contain branding messages or click to various actions.
“We’ve had some really good uptake so far and we’ve sold a good amount of ad inventory,” Mr. Spirito said. “Advertisers get directly in front of consumers, the most ardent fans who can’t be away from the content we have and want most up-to-date information possible.
“Advertisers want to get in front of these people and we’ve been successful selling the ad inventory,” he said. “Its appeal to advertisers is connecting their brand to a brand like the Yankees that many people love.”
“They have an audience, like a lot off sports audiences, that wants immediacy and wants to know what’s going on with the Yankees wherever they are,” said Patricia Clarke, regional vice president of sales for 4Info, New York. “The challenge we addressed for YES was helping them to connect to Yankee fans via their handsets in a really easy way, with not a lot of heavy lifting on their part.
“We provide a mobile solution that can tie into the other types of media that they’re offering, from TV and online to print and billboards,” she said. “SMS alerts can help brands create an ongoing dialogue with people and help tighten up their relationship with people, because consumers can hear from them on an ongoing basis.”
"People love to get stuff for free, especially when the free stuff is valued information like getting a Yankees score on the go,” Ms. Clarke said. “When consumers have a positive association with a brand, the Yes Network can make money on it, as they have advertising within the text messages.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Rocketing through the recession
As people look for more ways to save, they’re opening up to new ideas – and a Bend, Oregon startup is reaping the benefits
Portions of an article By Andrew Moore / The Bulletin
Published: March 19. 2009 4:00AM PST
In an economic pinch, consumers often reach for value, shaking up old habits in the process.
That’s one way Fred Boos, the founder and president of RocketBux, a Bend startup that delivers digital coupons to cell phones, describes the company’s recent growth despite the recession.
Boos said consumers are more willing to hand out their mobile numbers to marketers, as the fear of spam is slowly replaced by the promise of a good deal.
“With this economy, people are looking for some type of discount and businesses are looking for new ways to reach customers,” Boos said. “This is a huge tidal shift. If people can save money by getting an ad on the phone, they are going to do it.”
The shift in consumer attitude and the growth of mobile marketing also is spurring growth at RocketBux. Boos would be disappointed if the company doesn’t grow from its current 17 employees to 45 by year’s end.
“I hate to say it, but it seems like the bad economy is good for us,” Boos said.
RocketBux’s technology is centered on text messages that it sends on behalf of its clients, generally advertisers or businesses with direct marketing campaigns. Customers either opt to receive the text messages by providing their mobile numbers to an advertiser or they send a text message to a specified number in an advertisement, which triggers the immediate receipt of a coupon-bearing text message.
Roughly 600 billion text messages were sent last year, according to CTIA The Wireless Association, nearly 1,000 percent more than in 2005.
Kerri Stewart, the owner of a Dutch Bros. Coffee franchise in Junction City, is a RocketBux client. She gives her customers a one-time $1 discount on their orders if they give her their mobile numbers, which she then uses to send out coupons. Stewart said that at roughly 5 cents per text message, the return on investment is “huge” and the results are immediate.
“I can have a slow Tuesday afternoon, and I can sit on my computer, type (a text message), send it and instantly have customers come in. We can adjust very easily to what’s going on,” Stewart said.
Stewart said she has not received much push-back from her customers when shes asks for their mobile numbers, noting customers can opt-out at any time. More importantly, she said, in a town of roughly 4,500, more than 1,200 customers have signed up.
At work in Bend
In Bend, Newport Avenue Market is using RocketBux’s technology in conjunction with an advertising campaign developed by Every Idea LLC.
In radio ads for the market, the advertisement invites listeners to text message the store — technically, they are texting RocketBux — to receive a special coupon code in return, such as a code for a 49-cent loaf of bread or 99-cent pint of ice cream. The consumer then announces at checkout they have a cell phone coupon, at which point the checker asks for the coupon code and enters it into the register.
Boos said another plus for the technology is it provides businesses with a way to track how effective an advertisement is by counting the number of coupons redeemed.
Tech’s next big thing
A veteran of the Bay Area’s dot-com heyday in the 1990s, Boos moved to Bend — drawn by the region’s quality of life — and founded RocketBux in 2005. It is privately held and holds patents on much of its technology.
Boos said the mobile application industry — those companies that are developing software and applications for mobile phones — is in the same hyper-growth stage Boos witnessed during the Internet’s early years. As smart phones continue to evolve and provide the functions once reserved for desktop computers, more people will continue to adopt them and make them a part of their everyday lives, and reap the rewards as a result, Boos said.
Portions of an article By Andrew Moore / The Bulletin
Published: March 19. 2009 4:00AM PST
In an economic pinch, consumers often reach for value, shaking up old habits in the process.
That’s one way Fred Boos, the founder and president of RocketBux, a Bend startup that delivers digital coupons to cell phones, describes the company’s recent growth despite the recession.
Boos said consumers are more willing to hand out their mobile numbers to marketers, as the fear of spam is slowly replaced by the promise of a good deal.
“With this economy, people are looking for some type of discount and businesses are looking for new ways to reach customers,” Boos said. “This is a huge tidal shift. If people can save money by getting an ad on the phone, they are going to do it.”
The shift in consumer attitude and the growth of mobile marketing also is spurring growth at RocketBux. Boos would be disappointed if the company doesn’t grow from its current 17 employees to 45 by year’s end.
“I hate to say it, but it seems like the bad economy is good for us,” Boos said.
RocketBux’s technology is centered on text messages that it sends on behalf of its clients, generally advertisers or businesses with direct marketing campaigns. Customers either opt to receive the text messages by providing their mobile numbers to an advertiser or they send a text message to a specified number in an advertisement, which triggers the immediate receipt of a coupon-bearing text message.
Roughly 600 billion text messages were sent last year, according to CTIA The Wireless Association, nearly 1,000 percent more than in 2005.
Kerri Stewart, the owner of a Dutch Bros. Coffee franchise in Junction City, is a RocketBux client. She gives her customers a one-time $1 discount on their orders if they give her their mobile numbers, which she then uses to send out coupons. Stewart said that at roughly 5 cents per text message, the return on investment is “huge” and the results are immediate.
“I can have a slow Tuesday afternoon, and I can sit on my computer, type (a text message), send it and instantly have customers come in. We can adjust very easily to what’s going on,” Stewart said.
Stewart said she has not received much push-back from her customers when shes asks for their mobile numbers, noting customers can opt-out at any time. More importantly, she said, in a town of roughly 4,500, more than 1,200 customers have signed up.
At work in Bend
In Bend, Newport Avenue Market is using RocketBux’s technology in conjunction with an advertising campaign developed by Every Idea LLC.
In radio ads for the market, the advertisement invites listeners to text message the store — technically, they are texting RocketBux — to receive a special coupon code in return, such as a code for a 49-cent loaf of bread or 99-cent pint of ice cream. The consumer then announces at checkout they have a cell phone coupon, at which point the checker asks for the coupon code and enters it into the register.
Boos said another plus for the technology is it provides businesses with a way to track how effective an advertisement is by counting the number of coupons redeemed.
Tech’s next big thing
A veteran of the Bay Area’s dot-com heyday in the 1990s, Boos moved to Bend — drawn by the region’s quality of life — and founded RocketBux in 2005. It is privately held and holds patents on much of its technology.
Boos said the mobile application industry — those companies that are developing software and applications for mobile phones — is in the same hyper-growth stage Boos witnessed during the Internet’s early years. As smart phones continue to evolve and provide the functions once reserved for desktop computers, more people will continue to adopt them and make them a part of their everyday lives, and reap the rewards as a result, Boos said.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Mobile Marketer's Mobile Outlook 2009
By Mickey Alam Khan
March 20, 2009
As Mobile Marketer's Outlook 2009 proves, marketers understand the need to integrate mobile into their multichannel branding, customer acquisition and customer retention plans.
Several trends are emerging as mobile matures into a medium that, while not without flaws, is a more palatable option than other marketing channels in use. The emphasis, however, should be on mobile's complementary nature - it gives legs to other channels, including retail, online, television, print, coupons, radio, outdoor, direct mail and insert media.
Top of the trends list is the consumer's growing comfort with consuming news and content on mobile phones, along with exchanging SMS text messages, shopping for products and services, checking email, playing games, conducting mobile banking transactions and searching for retail locations or driving directions.
Indeed, the mobile channel's use as a location-enabling tool is quickly becoming evident to brands, ad agencies, retailers and, most importantly, consumers.
Marketers must remember that mobile cannot, and must not, be treated like other mass mediums out there.
Mobile is a highly personal channel, with attendant sensitivities and double opt-in permission requirements.
So it's not the quantity that should matter for marketers looking to incorporate mobile into their multichannel marketing plans. It's the quality - and that's where mobile excels.
While the economy could be better, that hasn't stopped consumers from quickly shifting to mobile many tasks that previously were conducted on computers.
The choice for marketers and ad agencies then is not to deliberate whether to have an SMS program or mobile banner ads or a mobile Web site or a mobile coupon program or a .mobi domain or an iPhone/BlackBerry/Android application.
Instead, the decision to be made is which one of these options - or a combination - is relevant for the brand in its efforts to reach consumers through multiple, relevant touch points.
Smart marketers and agencies will think like smart fishermen: fish where the fish are. Consumers have already moved to mobile, and are staying there for a long time.
Marketers should focus this year and next on using mobile - especially SMS and applications - to build databases of consumers who have opted in not once but twice to receive targeted offers, alerts and information from marketers.
A marketer without a mobile loyalty program in 2009 or 2010 will risk losing customers to competitors who have such efforts in place.
March 20, 2009
As Mobile Marketer's Outlook 2009 proves, marketers understand the need to integrate mobile into their multichannel branding, customer acquisition and customer retention plans.
Several trends are emerging as mobile matures into a medium that, while not without flaws, is a more palatable option than other marketing channels in use. The emphasis, however, should be on mobile's complementary nature - it gives legs to other channels, including retail, online, television, print, coupons, radio, outdoor, direct mail and insert media.
Top of the trends list is the consumer's growing comfort with consuming news and content on mobile phones, along with exchanging SMS text messages, shopping for products and services, checking email, playing games, conducting mobile banking transactions and searching for retail locations or driving directions.
Indeed, the mobile channel's use as a location-enabling tool is quickly becoming evident to brands, ad agencies, retailers and, most importantly, consumers.
Marketers must remember that mobile cannot, and must not, be treated like other mass mediums out there.
Mobile is a highly personal channel, with attendant sensitivities and double opt-in permission requirements.
So it's not the quantity that should matter for marketers looking to incorporate mobile into their multichannel marketing plans. It's the quality - and that's where mobile excels.
While the economy could be better, that hasn't stopped consumers from quickly shifting to mobile many tasks that previously were conducted on computers.
The choice for marketers and ad agencies then is not to deliberate whether to have an SMS program or mobile banner ads or a mobile Web site or a mobile coupon program or a .mobi domain or an iPhone/BlackBerry/Android application.
Instead, the decision to be made is which one of these options - or a combination - is relevant for the brand in its efforts to reach consumers through multiple, relevant touch points.
Smart marketers and agencies will think like smart fishermen: fish where the fish are. Consumers have already moved to mobile, and are staying there for a long time.
Marketers should focus this year and next on using mobile - especially SMS and applications - to build databases of consumers who have opted in not once but twice to receive targeted offers, alerts and information from marketers.
A marketer without a mobile loyalty program in 2009 or 2010 will risk losing customers to competitors who have such efforts in place.
This is the decade of mobile: ThinkMobile keynote
See the complete article
Posted at MobileMarketer.com
By Dan Butcher - March 20, 2009
NEW YORK - Mobile technology’s impact on marketing and communications is a top priority of ad agencies, according to a keynote address at MediaBistro’s ThinkMobile conference.
Ad agencies have taken notice of the tremendous growth of the mobile sector. Mobile marketing is projected to be a $7.3 billion industry by 2009 and a $19billion industry by 2012, according to the American Association of Advertising Agencies, or the 4As.
“It seems as if each year there’s a headline screaming ‘This is the year of mobile,’ but I think it’s safer to say that it’s the decade of mobile,” said Nancy Hill, president/CEO of the American Association of Advertising Agencies, New York.
“In 2020 when we look back, I predict that the second decade of the 21st century is the decade when mobile truly takes off, when mobile is fully integrated into other media," she said.
By 2020, mobile will be the primary Internet device among consumers worldwide, according 4As.
“There are 3.4 billion mobile subscribers worldwide, and there are few relationships as intimate as the one that consumers have with their mobile phone,” Ms. Hill said. “We carry a mobile device with us all day long—we check it when we wake up and before we go to bed.
“What I have on my phone, music playlists on Shazam and Pandora, Yelp and social networks represent a clear, precise snapshot of who I am as a consumer and a professional today,” she said. “The success of the iPhone is providing access to new forms of mobile content, and consumers are rapidly expecting—no, demanding—3G-plus connection speeds.” She added “Google has its eyes on the prize of mobile search and advertising,” she said.
MOBILITY STATISTICS:
Thirty-four percent of Americans say they recall seeing a mobile ad, while 41 percent of iPhone users recall seeing a mobile ad, according to 4As.
162 million consumers use text messaging. Ten percent of mobile phone users use location-based services, while 55 percent use mobile services other than voice.
However, regardless of age, gender and socio-economic class, all demograpic groups use mobile phones, according to 4As.
Posted at MobileMarketer.com
By Dan Butcher - March 20, 2009
NEW YORK - Mobile technology’s impact on marketing and communications is a top priority of ad agencies, according to a keynote address at MediaBistro’s ThinkMobile conference.
Ad agencies have taken notice of the tremendous growth of the mobile sector. Mobile marketing is projected to be a $7.3 billion industry by 2009 and a $19billion industry by 2012, according to the American Association of Advertising Agencies, or the 4As.
“It seems as if each year there’s a headline screaming ‘This is the year of mobile,’ but I think it’s safer to say that it’s the decade of mobile,” said Nancy Hill, president/CEO of the American Association of Advertising Agencies, New York.
“In 2020 when we look back, I predict that the second decade of the 21st century is the decade when mobile truly takes off, when mobile is fully integrated into other media," she said.
By 2020, mobile will be the primary Internet device among consumers worldwide, according 4As.
“There are 3.4 billion mobile subscribers worldwide, and there are few relationships as intimate as the one that consumers have with their mobile phone,” Ms. Hill said. “We carry a mobile device with us all day long—we check it when we wake up and before we go to bed.
“What I have on my phone, music playlists on Shazam and Pandora, Yelp and social networks represent a clear, precise snapshot of who I am as a consumer and a professional today,” she said. “The success of the iPhone is providing access to new forms of mobile content, and consumers are rapidly expecting—no, demanding—3G-plus connection speeds.” She added “Google has its eyes on the prize of mobile search and advertising,” she said.
MOBILITY STATISTICS:
Thirty-four percent of Americans say they recall seeing a mobile ad, while 41 percent of iPhone users recall seeing a mobile ad, according to 4As.
162 million consumers use text messaging. Ten percent of mobile phone users use location-based services, while 55 percent use mobile services other than voice.
However, regardless of age, gender and socio-economic class, all demograpic groups use mobile phones, according to 4As.
Demand for news on the go growing quickly: ThinkMobile panelists
By Dan Butcher | March 20, 2009
Complete article at MobileMarketer.com
NEW YORK - Since print ads alone aren't cutting it for newspaper companies anymore, they are turning to mobile and emerging technology.
This was the key takeaway at a panel during MediaBistro's ThinkMobile Conference and Expo in Nw York. The panelists discussed how mobile has affected headline news.
“We know from our own empirical data that ‘news and information’ is a very important category for today's 63 million mobile consumers and that demand is increasing at double-digit growth rates on the AP Mobile platform alone,” said Jeffrey Litvack, general manager of mobile and emerging products for the Associated Press, New York.
“We also know that our users have a voracious appetite for this information throughout the day, are pulling in local news from their community in addition to one to two other locations, presumably where they're from and where they may be traveling to, so it is only natural for advertisers and marketers to enter into that conversation with messages, offers, or incentives based on content, context, location or any other set of variables that we can deliver targeted offers on today,” he said.
Less than a year ago, the AP Mobile platform was launched—then known as Mobile News Network—as the first product resulting from AP's Digital Cooperative, an initiative aimed at finding new digital outlets for news and information produced by AP members.
Incorporating local offers into the community setting helps it achieve the right balance of content and advertising to create value for its users, members and advertising partners.
****
“Mobile is all about access and now access can be anytime, anywhere, although the mobile medium is still in its experimental stage for content publishers and users,” Mr. Litvack said.
Recent comScore research indicates that mobile is growing at unprecedented rates, with 107 percent growth in daily access to mobile news in the last year alone—more than 63 million users, with 35 percent of them accessing news daily.
Consumers can take these few moments to connect to news and events happening in their world and beyond while enjoying a new social currency in being the first to know.
Using mobile as a touch point to tap into new consumer bases is a unique opportunity for niche messaging and targeting.
***
“By way of example, we can build an app around sports, say for instance, baseball, where fans can follow their local teams from the beginning of the season and all the way up to the World Series, get updates on events and promotions in their area that can be shared via e-mail or posted to Facebook, along with a link to video footage shown online or watched on IPTV,” he said.
Complete article at MobileMarketer.com
NEW YORK - Since print ads alone aren't cutting it for newspaper companies anymore, they are turning to mobile and emerging technology.
This was the key takeaway at a panel during MediaBistro's ThinkMobile Conference and Expo in Nw York. The panelists discussed how mobile has affected headline news.
“We know from our own empirical data that ‘news and information’ is a very important category for today's 63 million mobile consumers and that demand is increasing at double-digit growth rates on the AP Mobile platform alone,” said Jeffrey Litvack, general manager of mobile and emerging products for the Associated Press, New York.
“We also know that our users have a voracious appetite for this information throughout the day, are pulling in local news from their community in addition to one to two other locations, presumably where they're from and where they may be traveling to, so it is only natural for advertisers and marketers to enter into that conversation with messages, offers, or incentives based on content, context, location or any other set of variables that we can deliver targeted offers on today,” he said.
Less than a year ago, the AP Mobile platform was launched—then known as Mobile News Network—as the first product resulting from AP's Digital Cooperative, an initiative aimed at finding new digital outlets for news and information produced by AP members.
Incorporating local offers into the community setting helps it achieve the right balance of content and advertising to create value for its users, members and advertising partners.
****
“Mobile is all about access and now access can be anytime, anywhere, although the mobile medium is still in its experimental stage for content publishers and users,” Mr. Litvack said.
Recent comScore research indicates that mobile is growing at unprecedented rates, with 107 percent growth in daily access to mobile news in the last year alone—more than 63 million users, with 35 percent of them accessing news daily.
Consumers can take these few moments to connect to news and events happening in their world and beyond while enjoying a new social currency in being the first to know.
Using mobile as a touch point to tap into new consumer bases is a unique opportunity for niche messaging and targeting.
***
“By way of example, we can build an app around sports, say for instance, baseball, where fans can follow their local teams from the beginning of the season and all the way up to the World Series, get updates on events and promotions in their area that can be shared via e-mail or posted to Facebook, along with a link to video footage shown online or watched on IPTV,” he said.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Mobile improves effectiveness of cross-media advertising: ThinkMobile panel
By Dan Butcher - MobileMarketer.com
March 19, 2009
NEW YORK - Adding mobile to the marketing mix improves the effectiveness of cross-media ad campaigns, according to a panel at MediaBistro’s ThinkMobile Conference & Expo in New York.
Companies such as Yahoo, Microsoft, AOL, Google and Nokia have all entered the mobile advertising arena aggressively. Panelists discussed how they are embracing mobile advertising, compared mobile tactics to online methods and talked about their approach to mobile.
“While mobile still isn’t a line item in media budgets, the reach is there,” said Michael Bayle, senior director of mobile adverting sales for Yahoo, Sunnyvale, CA. “Across the mobile industry impressions are in the billions and mobile page views continue to grow.
“You know you’re crossing a chasm when you have to issue a press release detailing how much you’re spending—recently Land Rover and Jaguar committed $2 million to mobile, and that was a press-worthy event,” he said. “Mobile is still nascent, but once you’ve got a rhythm behind it, it’s transferrable across all the players and all media.”
Many of the Internet giants have placed an intense focus on mobile, because that where consumers are.
Microsoft has a dedicated mobile team in charge of mobile display and search advertising, “Today there is no reach issue in mobile, there’s plenty of inventory, so there’s absolutely no problem, but mobile advertising spend is still small compared to overall advertising market,” said Marc Henri Magdelenat, director of mobile ad sales and marketing for Microsoft Advertising, Redmond, WA. “It’s very interesting, though, to look at the growing mobile inventory and growing number of mobile page views.
“Mobile is exploding due to the the iPhone, due to the right price to browse on the mobile Web, the right devices coming out and faster networks providing faster browsing speed,” he said. “We have the reach — 1 billion page impressions per month.”
“Mobile is an extremely large part of Google’s business going forward, and it’s a highly staffed strategic initiative,” said Robert Victor, product manager of emerging technology for Google’s DoubleClick, Mountain View, CA. “Display advertising on mobile is very important, as is mobile search advertising.”
Google sees the mobile industry as much further along than it was even a year ago.
“We see a lot of value in the high-end mobile devices merging the technology of the Web with the unique capabilities of mobile, and we can extend our Web technology to mobile,” Mr. Victor said.
***
“Content is even more valuable in mobile than it is online, and it’s important to assemble Web, mobile and video technologies,” Mr. Victor said. “When it comes to cross-media buys, you need more tools than just mobile.”
Many panelists stressed the fact that brands should combine mobile with all the other channels, including TV, online/digital and print, to take a global, cross-media approach.
[BEN DELEON'S BOOK - 1001 MARKETING IDEAS - 2ND EDITION PUBLISHED IN 2007 - TALKS ABOUT MOBILE AND SMALL SCREEN ADVERTISING AS A FUTURE TREND. TURN TO PAGE 55.]
“Mobile will play a huge role in advertising, because already today more people carry around a mobile phone than any other digital device, and in emerging countries it’s the only digital device they have,” Mr. Henriksson said.
“When you get the user experience correct you can create a very personal two-way dialogue with consumers,” he said. “Mobile can provide three-to-four times higher engagement between consumers and brands."
March 19, 2009
NEW YORK - Adding mobile to the marketing mix improves the effectiveness of cross-media ad campaigns, according to a panel at MediaBistro’s ThinkMobile Conference & Expo in New York.
Companies such as Yahoo, Microsoft, AOL, Google and Nokia have all entered the mobile advertising arena aggressively. Panelists discussed how they are embracing mobile advertising, compared mobile tactics to online methods and talked about their approach to mobile.
“While mobile still isn’t a line item in media budgets, the reach is there,” said Michael Bayle, senior director of mobile adverting sales for Yahoo, Sunnyvale, CA. “Across the mobile industry impressions are in the billions and mobile page views continue to grow.
“You know you’re crossing a chasm when you have to issue a press release detailing how much you’re spending—recently Land Rover and Jaguar committed $2 million to mobile, and that was a press-worthy event,” he said. “Mobile is still nascent, but once you’ve got a rhythm behind it, it’s transferrable across all the players and all media.”
Many of the Internet giants have placed an intense focus on mobile, because that where consumers are.
Microsoft has a dedicated mobile team in charge of mobile display and search advertising, “Today there is no reach issue in mobile, there’s plenty of inventory, so there’s absolutely no problem, but mobile advertising spend is still small compared to overall advertising market,” said Marc Henri Magdelenat, director of mobile ad sales and marketing for Microsoft Advertising, Redmond, WA. “It’s very interesting, though, to look at the growing mobile inventory and growing number of mobile page views.
“Mobile is exploding due to the the iPhone, due to the right price to browse on the mobile Web, the right devices coming out and faster networks providing faster browsing speed,” he said. “We have the reach — 1 billion page impressions per month.”
“Mobile is an extremely large part of Google’s business going forward, and it’s a highly staffed strategic initiative,” said Robert Victor, product manager of emerging technology for Google’s DoubleClick, Mountain View, CA. “Display advertising on mobile is very important, as is mobile search advertising.”
Google sees the mobile industry as much further along than it was even a year ago.
“We see a lot of value in the high-end mobile devices merging the technology of the Web with the unique capabilities of mobile, and we can extend our Web technology to mobile,” Mr. Victor said.
***
“Content is even more valuable in mobile than it is online, and it’s important to assemble Web, mobile and video technologies,” Mr. Victor said. “When it comes to cross-media buys, you need more tools than just mobile.”
Many panelists stressed the fact that brands should combine mobile with all the other channels, including TV, online/digital and print, to take a global, cross-media approach.
[BEN DELEON'S BOOK - 1001 MARKETING IDEAS - 2ND EDITION PUBLISHED IN 2007 - TALKS ABOUT MOBILE AND SMALL SCREEN ADVERTISING AS A FUTURE TREND. TURN TO PAGE 55.]
“Mobile will play a huge role in advertising, because already today more people carry around a mobile phone than any other digital device, and in emerging countries it’s the only digital device they have,” Mr. Henriksson said.
“When you get the user experience correct you can create a very personal two-way dialogue with consumers,” he said. “Mobile can provide three-to-four times higher engagement between consumers and brands."
Time Inc. begins rollout of ambitious mobile plan
By Mickey Alam Khan
Published March 19, 2009
Full Article available on MobileMarketer.com
NEW YORK – Time Inc., the world’s largest magazine publisher, sees mobile as part of a troika comprising social networking and video that will determine its digital media future.
Starting next week, the New York-based company will roll out a series of iPhone and WAP Web sites and iPhone applications for media properties such as Golf.com and CNNMoney.com, which is the joint portal for Fortune and Money magazines. Mobile will also be part of a test to gauge the appetite of consumers willing to pay for content.
Mobile is a natural extension for Time Inc., a Time Warner Inc. subsidiary that publishes magazines such as Time, People, Fortune, Entertainment Weekly and Sports Illustrated.
The company’s wired Web sites for its Time, People and Entertainment Weekly brands already attract some of the highest audience numbers in terms of monthly unique visitors. That audience is now also consuming Time Inc. content on the iPhone, BlackBerry and other Web-friendly mobile devices.
Jonathan Shar, general manager and senior vice president at CNNMoney.com said
“We’ve seen our iPhone-accessed audience double in the last six months.”
Time Inc. is banking on the increasing population of smartphone users to introduce more sophisticated uses for content and marketing. “We’re doing a lot of data collection,” Mr. Fuchs said.
Published March 19, 2009
Full Article available on MobileMarketer.com
NEW YORK – Time Inc., the world’s largest magazine publisher, sees mobile as part of a troika comprising social networking and video that will determine its digital media future.
Starting next week, the New York-based company will roll out a series of iPhone and WAP Web sites and iPhone applications for media properties such as Golf.com and CNNMoney.com, which is the joint portal for Fortune and Money magazines. Mobile will also be part of a test to gauge the appetite of consumers willing to pay for content.
Mobile is a natural extension for Time Inc., a Time Warner Inc. subsidiary that publishes magazines such as Time, People, Fortune, Entertainment Weekly and Sports Illustrated.
The company’s wired Web sites for its Time, People and Entertainment Weekly brands already attract some of the highest audience numbers in terms of monthly unique visitors. That audience is now also consuming Time Inc. content on the iPhone, BlackBerry and other Web-friendly mobile devices.
Jonathan Shar, general manager and senior vice president at CNNMoney.com said
“We’ve seen our iPhone-accessed audience double in the last six months.”
Time Inc. is banking on the increasing population of smartphone users to introduce more sophisticated uses for content and marketing. “We’re doing a lot of data collection,” Mr. Fuchs said.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Expect a Spike in Mobile Coupons
Source: Mobile Marketing Watch
Posted: 17 Mar 2009 01:23 PM PDT
Nothing looks quite so good during a recession as a coupon.
Lucky for us, the redemption value of mobile coupons will increase better than 30% by next year.
Juniper's research reveals that the twin effects of shoppers essential to a healthy economy and merchants aware of the need for discounts to drive sales will increase the presence and value of mobile coupons significantly in the months and years to come.
In other words, the mobile coupon may very well be the next big thing.
With greater than one-hundred million mobile phone users expected to use mobile coupons in 2010, Juniper foresees massive growth in mobile marketing across North America, Western Europe, the Far East and China.
With this opportunity, of course, comes a few challenges, specifically the lack of suitable point of sale (POS) infrastructure at the supermarket checkout, where most mobile coupon users will hope for and expect the prompt redemption of their coupons.
Nonetheless, as Mobile Coupons Report author Howard Wilcox explained: We believe that merchants will see targeted, quick one-to-one marketing campaigns via mobile coupons as a valuable marketing weapon. Considering that mobile coupons offer much better redemption rates and are more cost effective, they represent a win-win approach for innovative retailers.
Posted: 17 Mar 2009 01:23 PM PDT
Nothing looks quite so good during a recession as a coupon.
Lucky for us, the redemption value of mobile coupons will increase better than 30% by next year.
Juniper's research reveals that the twin effects of shoppers essential to a healthy economy and merchants aware of the need for discounts to drive sales will increase the presence and value of mobile coupons significantly in the months and years to come.
In other words, the mobile coupon may very well be the next big thing.
With greater than one-hundred million mobile phone users expected to use mobile coupons in 2010, Juniper foresees massive growth in mobile marketing across North America, Western Europe, the Far East and China.
With this opportunity, of course, comes a few challenges, specifically the lack of suitable point of sale (POS) infrastructure at the supermarket checkout, where most mobile coupon users will hope for and expect the prompt redemption of their coupons.
Nonetheless, as Mobile Coupons Report author Howard Wilcox explained: We believe that merchants will see targeted, quick one-to-one marketing campaigns via mobile coupons as a valuable marketing weapon. Considering that mobile coupons offer much better redemption rates and are more cost effective, they represent a win-win approach for innovative retailers.
SMS marketing in tough times
EDITOR'S NOTE: Although this post originates in the Philippines, the information is quite useful in our global economy. It is important to note that Filipinos lead the world in texting.
By JERRY LIAO
March 18, 2009, 10:25am - Manila Bulletin
Almost all companies are looking for ways on how to increase or maintain their sales performance this year. The current Philippine economic situation is worsened by external factors rather than internal or local factors. Just to prove that indeed globalization is at work.
Some of the companies I know have given up or at least [decreased] their TV ads...they are turning to more focused mediums like magazines, events and SMS or texting.
SMS marketing is proving just the tool for shrewd businesses looking for innovative new media strategies to keep themselves ahead of the game during the economic downturn.
It’s now more important than ever for businesses to improve efficiency, reduce waste and produce targeted responsive marketing campaigns and digital mediums such as mobile are proving the ideal solution ensuring much needed return on investment.
Here are 6 key marketing objectives where Mobile Marketing can shine for any business.
1) Direct Response Advertising
Targeted bulk text campaigns to a qualified database coupled with a strong call to action can prove powerful in reaching impulse buyers at just the right time to entice a purchase. The key to the direct response lies with the fact people carry their phones with them wherever they go and therefore there is no more powerful way to reach people than by their phone and with 95% of people reading their texts immediately the direct impact can be huge.
Statistics provided by the Mobile Data Association (MDA) found that response rates for mobile are 4 times higher than other direct marketing mediums such as Direct Mail and Email and at only a few cents a text and no production costs, a simple text message equates to a fraction of the cost.
2) Customer Retention Marketing
Keeping customers will not only save businesses money but will make them money. According to a report by The Logic Group, loyal long-standing customers account for over 50% of a company’s annual sales, they are also higher value customers happy to pay premium rates of around 30% to 50% more per transaction.
For this reason a CRM program is crucial and regular communication via new media techniques such as email and mobile is a key player in helping maintain communication...a friendly personalized offer or promotion at just the right time...could provide just the push you need to increase sales.
3) Viral Marketing
With people looking for bargains, text is proving more powerful than ever. Texts are the ideal viral marketing tool capable of reaching much further than initial recipients alone. Good offers and promotions are often shared amongst friends eager to spread the word of a good bargain.
If businesses send out tempting offers and promotions...a whopping 95% of texts [are]being opened and read which offers great opportunities for marketers.
4) Integrated Marketing
Mobile works best when integrated with other larger campaigns and therefore it’s important for it to be integrated into all marketing communications material such as newsletters, websites, e-marketing, POS, Outdoor, TV and radio in the same way a telephone or email address would be included.
5) Lead Generation
The tightening economy is sure to put lead generation tactics in the spotlight as businesses search for ways to generate new leads. Tactics such as Mobile Marketing enable businesses to build their own opt-in database of contacts at no extra cost, simply by publishing it on all marketing communications material. This is a much more practical way of operating than buying cold call data from a broker.
6) Measuring and Tracking Results
During the tough economy it is more important than ever for businesses to implement marketing strategies that are trackable and measureable. There is no point investing in advertising if it’s not properly monitored.
In conclusion, as marketing budgets are streamlined, marketers need to push their case for value for money from advertising and marketing spending and moving more towards more measurable, ROI-focused media such as Internet and mobile marketing. Mobile tactics such as short codes and text messaging should be integrated into...marketing campaigns as an aid to increase potential in terms of sales, lead generation and campaign measurability.
By JERRY LIAO
March 18, 2009, 10:25am - Manila Bulletin
Almost all companies are looking for ways on how to increase or maintain their sales performance this year. The current Philippine economic situation is worsened by external factors rather than internal or local factors. Just to prove that indeed globalization is at work.
Some of the companies I know have given up or at least [decreased] their TV ads...they are turning to more focused mediums like magazines, events and SMS or texting.
SMS marketing is proving just the tool for shrewd businesses looking for innovative new media strategies to keep themselves ahead of the game during the economic downturn.
It’s now more important than ever for businesses to improve efficiency, reduce waste and produce targeted responsive marketing campaigns and digital mediums such as mobile are proving the ideal solution ensuring much needed return on investment.
Here are 6 key marketing objectives where Mobile Marketing can shine for any business.
1) Direct Response Advertising
Targeted bulk text campaigns to a qualified database coupled with a strong call to action can prove powerful in reaching impulse buyers at just the right time to entice a purchase. The key to the direct response lies with the fact people carry their phones with them wherever they go and therefore there is no more powerful way to reach people than by their phone and with 95% of people reading their texts immediately the direct impact can be huge.
Statistics provided by the Mobile Data Association (MDA) found that response rates for mobile are 4 times higher than other direct marketing mediums such as Direct Mail and Email and at only a few cents a text and no production costs, a simple text message equates to a fraction of the cost.
2) Customer Retention Marketing
Keeping customers will not only save businesses money but will make them money. According to a report by The Logic Group, loyal long-standing customers account for over 50% of a company’s annual sales, they are also higher value customers happy to pay premium rates of around 30% to 50% more per transaction.
For this reason a CRM program is crucial and regular communication via new media techniques such as email and mobile is a key player in helping maintain communication...a friendly personalized offer or promotion at just the right time...could provide just the push you need to increase sales.
3) Viral Marketing
With people looking for bargains, text is proving more powerful than ever. Texts are the ideal viral marketing tool capable of reaching much further than initial recipients alone. Good offers and promotions are often shared amongst friends eager to spread the word of a good bargain.
If businesses send out tempting offers and promotions...a whopping 95% of texts [are]being opened and read which offers great opportunities for marketers.
4) Integrated Marketing
Mobile works best when integrated with other larger campaigns and therefore it’s important for it to be integrated into all marketing communications material such as newsletters, websites, e-marketing, POS, Outdoor, TV and radio in the same way a telephone or email address would be included.
5) Lead Generation
The tightening economy is sure to put lead generation tactics in the spotlight as businesses search for ways to generate new leads. Tactics such as Mobile Marketing enable businesses to build their own opt-in database of contacts at no extra cost, simply by publishing it on all marketing communications material. This is a much more practical way of operating than buying cold call data from a broker.
6) Measuring and Tracking Results
During the tough economy it is more important than ever for businesses to implement marketing strategies that are trackable and measureable. There is no point investing in advertising if it’s not properly monitored.
In conclusion, as marketing budgets are streamlined, marketers need to push their case for value for money from advertising and marketing spending and moving more towards more measurable, ROI-focused media such as Internet and mobile marketing. Mobile tactics such as short codes and text messaging should be integrated into...marketing campaigns as an aid to increase potential in terms of sales, lead generation and campaign measurability.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Daily mobile Web consumption of news, information doubles: comScore
EDITOR'S NOTE: This is further evidence that the future of mobile is headed to the Mobile Web. Watch for our new release this month of Mobile AdPix!
Posted by Mickey Alam Khan | March 17, 2009
Complete article available on MobileMarketer.com
A new study claims that the number of U.S. consumers using their mobile device to access news and information on the Internet more than doubled from January 2008 to January 2009.
In an encouraging indication of regularity, 35 percent – 22.37 million –of the 63.2 million unique users who accessed news and information on their mobile devices undertook such activity daily in January 2009, according to market researcher comScore Inc. This is a 107 percent increase over the 10.82 million subscribers who access news and information daily on their Web-enabled handsets daily in January
2008.
“What we’re showing is a clear shift for this broad category,” said Mark Donovan, senior vice president of mobile at comScore, Seattle.
“The increase is driven, first, by widespread improvements and dissemination in technologies that have created better consumer experiences – 3G, smartphones – but also very capable high-end feature phones and, second, lots and lots of content and applications being provided by first-tier publishers and others,” he said.
Even the weekly consumption of news and information on mobile devices grew 87 percent to 19.28 million consumers in January 2009, up from 10.31 million consumers in the year-ago period.
Gen Yers and older consumers are more active with mobile social networking sites such as Facebook Mobile and MocoSpace Monthly consumption was up 71 percent to 63.18 million mobile consumers in January 2009, from 36.87 million mobile consumers in January 2008.
Social networks, blogs up
ComScore also found that daily unique users of social networking sites or blogs on their mobile devices was up 427 percent to 9.28 million in January 2009, from 1.76 million in the year-ago period.
Similarly, the number of daily unique users who traded stocks or accessed financial accounts on their mobile devices was up 188 percent to 3.27 million in January 2009, from 1.14 million in January 2008.
The number of daily unique users who accessed movie information on their mobile devices was up 185 percent to 3.07 million in January 2009, from 1.08 million in the year-ago period.
Daily unique usage of business directories on mobile devices was up 161 percent to 2.45 million in January 2009, from 939,000 in January 2008.
Also, the number of daily unique users who accessed entertainment news on their mobile devices was up 160 percent to 5.47 million in January 2009, from 2.1 million in the year-ago period.
It is clear from this data that mobile consumption of news and information is growing at a furious pace. But so is the consumption of social networking and blogging on the mobile Web.
Interestingly, while smartphones and high-end feature phones such as the Samsung Instinct and the LG Dare are among the top 10 devices used for news and information access, 70 percent of those consumers accessing mobile Web content are doing it through regular feature phones.
Opportunity for mobile advertising
All told, 32.4 million consumers are estimated to have used SMS to access news and information in January 2009.
The growing popularity of the mobile Web to the point of becoming a daily activity for many mobile subscribers has far-reaching implications for publishers and how they can leverage mobile advertising against the mobile audiences.
“It is further evidence that mobile is a valuable advertising channel,” comScore’s Mr. Donovan said.
Posted by Mickey Alam Khan | March 17, 2009
Complete article available on MobileMarketer.com
A new study claims that the number of U.S. consumers using their mobile device to access news and information on the Internet more than doubled from January 2008 to January 2009.
In an encouraging indication of regularity, 35 percent – 22.37 million –of the 63.2 million unique users who accessed news and information on their mobile devices undertook such activity daily in January 2009, according to market researcher comScore Inc. This is a 107 percent increase over the 10.82 million subscribers who access news and information daily on their Web-enabled handsets daily in January
2008.
“What we’re showing is a clear shift for this broad category,” said Mark Donovan, senior vice president of mobile at comScore, Seattle.
“The increase is driven, first, by widespread improvements and dissemination in technologies that have created better consumer experiences – 3G, smartphones – but also very capable high-end feature phones and, second, lots and lots of content and applications being provided by first-tier publishers and others,” he said.
Even the weekly consumption of news and information on mobile devices grew 87 percent to 19.28 million consumers in January 2009, up from 10.31 million consumers in the year-ago period.
Gen Yers and older consumers are more active with mobile social networking sites such as Facebook Mobile and MocoSpace Monthly consumption was up 71 percent to 63.18 million mobile consumers in January 2009, from 36.87 million mobile consumers in January 2008.
Social networks, blogs up
ComScore also found that daily unique users of social networking sites or blogs on their mobile devices was up 427 percent to 9.28 million in January 2009, from 1.76 million in the year-ago period.
Similarly, the number of daily unique users who traded stocks or accessed financial accounts on their mobile devices was up 188 percent to 3.27 million in January 2009, from 1.14 million in January 2008.
The number of daily unique users who accessed movie information on their mobile devices was up 185 percent to 3.07 million in January 2009, from 1.08 million in the year-ago period.
Daily unique usage of business directories on mobile devices was up 161 percent to 2.45 million in January 2009, from 939,000 in January 2008.
Also, the number of daily unique users who accessed entertainment news on their mobile devices was up 160 percent to 5.47 million in January 2009, from 2.1 million in the year-ago period.
It is clear from this data that mobile consumption of news and information is growing at a furious pace. But so is the consumption of social networking and blogging on the mobile Web.
Interestingly, while smartphones and high-end feature phones such as the Samsung Instinct and the LG Dare are among the top 10 devices used for news and information access, 70 percent of those consumers accessing mobile Web content are doing it through regular feature phones.
Opportunity for mobile advertising
All told, 32.4 million consumers are estimated to have used SMS to access news and information in January 2009.
The growing popularity of the mobile Web to the point of becoming a daily activity for many mobile subscribers has far-reaching implications for publishers and how they can leverage mobile advertising against the mobile audiences.
“It is further evidence that mobile is a valuable advertising channel,” comScore’s Mr. Donovan said.
Maryland Lottery launches mobile marketing program
By Mickey Alam Khan
Posted March 17, 2009 on MobileMarketer.com
A numbers' game on mobile
The Maryland Lottery added yet another channel to its arsenal with the launch of a mobile marketing program that could drive more ticket sales from consumers within the state and outside as well.
The state lottery has tapped Acuity Mobile, Greenbelt, MD, to support a mobile marketing program that will include announcements on jackpots, promotions and new games. The one thing the Maryland Lottery Mobile program won’t do is allow actual gaming on a mobile phone since it is not permitted in the state.
In this Q&A, Acuity Mobile president Alan R. Sultan explains the rationale behind the lottery’s move, how the opt-in text messaging program works and how users can register for it by texting a keyword to a short code or online at http://www.mdlottery.com. The interview:
Is this the first state lottery to go mobile?
Several lotteries today offer text messaging services.
Over the coming weeks, as we deploy the other components of the offering, we will be unveiling many industry firsts that use mobile to make lotteries more fun and engaging for players. Stay tuned.
A rich welcome beckons
What’s so unique about this effort?
First off, CBS Radio Baltimore is a key partner in this offering, which opens up many promotional and content opportunities.
This program is designed to not only drive ticket sales, but to make the lottery programs more interesting and engaging for players.
By combining a strong radio presence, text, WAP and specialized applications, we have a unique opportunity to really create best practices on how lotteries tap the potential of mobile.
Who’s the target?
Folks in the state of Maryland will be the target audience, but anyone can participate.
How does it work?
As with many Acuity Mobile clients, the Maryland Lottery is using a phased approach – start with text to build a mobile database, then transition over to targeted WAP sites and custom applications.
Phase one is going well with many thousands of active users on the text service text – text PLAY to 635688 (MDLOTT) for up to seven messages a month on hot lottery topics and special promotions—plus jackpot announcements and soon winning numbers.
Starting in April, we’ll be rolling out applications and WAP sites, with some great features planned for the app that will promote all parts of the lottery and what the latest and greatest is, including winning numbers, jackpot information, scratch-off, Keno and other game information as well as cashing information and Buddy’s Best Bets.
Can they actually play the lottery on mobile? Or is it just announcements and alerts?
Today, the Maryland Lottery is not permitted to have actual gaming on a mobile device in Maryland.
Anyone else doing something similar in the U.S. or overseas?
There are lotteries offering winning numbers via text.
There are several states offering basic lottery services by text, but to the best of our knowledge this will be the first deployment of a complete offering across text, WAP and applications.
What’s the advantage of going mobile for a lottery?
Mobile is ideal for lotteries, based on the ubiquity and the personal nature of the medium.
Lottery players are very loyal and have an ongoing need for information, things like keeping abreast of winning numbers, jackpot sizes, new games, retailer locations and the simple fact of always having this information in their pocket makes mobile a key piece of a lottery director’s marketing strategy.
Plus, many players don’t have access to a PC – their phone is their computer.
Can this be replicated across other lottery programs?
Yes, the Acuity eMap Platform is designed to be easily configured for other lotteries with different content and business rules so that they can have their own offerings without needing to develop anything custom.
This allows us to have an offering live in a short period of time at a very low price point.
How will the Maryland Lottery promote the mobile program?
This is one of the really special components of this program, with CBS Radio on board. There are many ongoing, high-profile promotions in the works.
Additionally, the Maryland Lottery has really embraced mobile as a viable medium and is promoting the offering on its Web site, special events, printed on tickets, on the electronic displays at point of purchase and even at special kiosks at NFL games in the state.
What is the lottery’s objective with this program?
It’s all about servicing the player and creating a channel for ongoing communication, a conversation, with information, fun interactive games and other information.
Plus, it allows the lottery to provide interactive marketing to players without access to a PC – a prime consideration for their demographic.
Posted March 17, 2009 on MobileMarketer.com
A numbers' game on mobile
The Maryland Lottery added yet another channel to its arsenal with the launch of a mobile marketing program that could drive more ticket sales from consumers within the state and outside as well.
The state lottery has tapped Acuity Mobile, Greenbelt, MD, to support a mobile marketing program that will include announcements on jackpots, promotions and new games. The one thing the Maryland Lottery Mobile program won’t do is allow actual gaming on a mobile phone since it is not permitted in the state.
In this Q&A, Acuity Mobile president Alan R. Sultan explains the rationale behind the lottery’s move, how the opt-in text messaging program works and how users can register for it by texting a keyword to a short code or online at http://www.mdlottery.com. The interview:
Is this the first state lottery to go mobile?
Several lotteries today offer text messaging services.
Over the coming weeks, as we deploy the other components of the offering, we will be unveiling many industry firsts that use mobile to make lotteries more fun and engaging for players. Stay tuned.
A rich welcome beckons
What’s so unique about this effort?
First off, CBS Radio Baltimore is a key partner in this offering, which opens up many promotional and content opportunities.
This program is designed to not only drive ticket sales, but to make the lottery programs more interesting and engaging for players.
By combining a strong radio presence, text, WAP and specialized applications, we have a unique opportunity to really create best practices on how lotteries tap the potential of mobile.
Who’s the target?
Folks in the state of Maryland will be the target audience, but anyone can participate.
How does it work?
As with many Acuity Mobile clients, the Maryland Lottery is using a phased approach – start with text to build a mobile database, then transition over to targeted WAP sites and custom applications.
Phase one is going well with many thousands of active users on the text service text – text PLAY to 635688 (MDLOTT) for up to seven messages a month on hot lottery topics and special promotions—plus jackpot announcements and soon winning numbers.
Starting in April, we’ll be rolling out applications and WAP sites, with some great features planned for the app that will promote all parts of the lottery and what the latest and greatest is, including winning numbers, jackpot information, scratch-off, Keno and other game information as well as cashing information and Buddy’s Best Bets.
Can they actually play the lottery on mobile? Or is it just announcements and alerts?
Today, the Maryland Lottery is not permitted to have actual gaming on a mobile device in Maryland.
Anyone else doing something similar in the U.S. or overseas?
There are lotteries offering winning numbers via text.
There are several states offering basic lottery services by text, but to the best of our knowledge this will be the first deployment of a complete offering across text, WAP and applications.
What’s the advantage of going mobile for a lottery?
Mobile is ideal for lotteries, based on the ubiquity and the personal nature of the medium.
Lottery players are very loyal and have an ongoing need for information, things like keeping abreast of winning numbers, jackpot sizes, new games, retailer locations and the simple fact of always having this information in their pocket makes mobile a key piece of a lottery director’s marketing strategy.
Plus, many players don’t have access to a PC – their phone is their computer.
Can this be replicated across other lottery programs?
Yes, the Acuity eMap Platform is designed to be easily configured for other lotteries with different content and business rules so that they can have their own offerings without needing to develop anything custom.
This allows us to have an offering live in a short period of time at a very low price point.
How will the Maryland Lottery promote the mobile program?
This is one of the really special components of this program, with CBS Radio on board. There are many ongoing, high-profile promotions in the works.
Additionally, the Maryland Lottery has really embraced mobile as a viable medium and is promoting the offering on its Web site, special events, printed on tickets, on the electronic displays at point of purchase and even at special kiosks at NFL games in the state.
What is the lottery’s objective with this program?
It’s all about servicing the player and creating a channel for ongoing communication, a conversation, with information, fun interactive games and other information.
Plus, it allows the lottery to provide interactive marketing to players without access to a PC – a prime consideration for their demographic.
Monday, March 16, 2009
Fashion Retailer Sees 377% ROI Using Mobile Coupons
EDITOR'S NOTE: This is an amazing case study for Mobile Coupons. Call our office to determine which product is right for you or visit http://adking.com - Thanks!
Source: Mobile Marketing Watch
Posted: 16 Mar 2009 10:19 AM PDT
Planet Funk, an apparel retailer with stores in California, Texas and Colorado, was facing the daunting task of bolstering its sales through what many had said would be the worst holiday shopping season in decades.
Planet Funk took a look at its primary demographic of young, hip consumers who are never without their cell phones, and decided that mobile marketing was the appropriate channel to move forward with. By combining both brick and mortar storefronts with an online presence, Planet Funk needed something that would bridge the gap and work efficiently, while also being as simple as possible to use and highly trackable.
Planet Funk, who has a long history of using digital marketing very effectively, decided that mobile marketing, and specifically mobile coupons, would be the right choice. The retailer enlisted the help of mobileStorm, a digital marketing company with a long history of success, to aid in the development, distribution and tracking of a full-scale mobile coupon campaign. MobileStorm had been providing email campaigns for Planet Funk for quite a while using the mobileStorm 4.0 digital marketing platform, so the familiarity of the platform extended to the new mobile coupon system that was recently integrated.
In a matter of days, with the infamous Black Friday looming ahead, Planet Funk and mobileStorm compiled a mobile coupon campaign based on discount tiers, which offers more savings dependant on the total purchase amount at coupon redemption- $10 coupon for spending $100-$249, $30 coupon for spending $250-$399, and so on.
Discount tiers always have a successful psychological effect on consumers, said Jared Reitzin, CEO of mobileStorm. Most of the time they past the first tier in spending with the first few things they buy, and having the second and third tier really helps them go to the next level. You start thinking about buying just one more thing so you can get that next discount.
To accomodate a fast launch, mobileStorm secured the keyword Pfunk for branding purposes, and utilized a shared shortcode to bring the campaign to fruition as quickly as possible. The campaign officially launched on November 21st, 2008, and utilized a variety of call-to-actions to drive traffic to the campaign. Signage was placed in all Planet Funks stores that showed the shortcode and corresponding keyword, and prompted a coupon as incentive to join the Planet Funk mobile club. In addition, Planet Funk pushed its mobile coupons via its Website, blog and the Websites of the malls in which Planet Funk stores are located. The key to the campaign, however, was the fact that the discounts could only be redeemed via the mobile coupon.
It’s always better to use an array of marketing mediums simultaneously, explained Jason Stith, Director of Sales Engineering for mobileStorm. With an inbound mobile coupon campaign, you are not only delivering coupons and trying to generate revenue via coupons, but you're also incentivizing your customers to text in and receive future offers. It’s very important to continually build your SMS database and coupons are a great aid in doing so.
By limiting the end-discount to the redemption of the mobile coupon itself, it creates a massive incentive to sign up for future communication. In Planet Funks case, signing up for its mobile club was all that was needed to redeem the savings via the mobile coupon. Planet Funk benefits by adding mobile consumers to its all-important mobile database, and the consumer benefits by receiving the savings via mobile coupons.
By the conclusion of the campaign on December 31, 2008, Planet Funk realized they had created over 20% of their total December revenue via the mobile coupon campaign...roughly 2,000 coupons were generated, with a redemption rate at an impressive 91%. Even more impressive was the fact that Planet Funk realized an ROI at a staggering 377% based on the relatively low-cost of the campaign. Furthermore, 15% of those that redeemed the coupon opted-in to receive future mobile campaigns, which helped build Planet Funks mobile database.
I don’t care what industry you are in or what you are selling, a 91% redemption rate is huge, continued Reitzin. Have we seen it before with mobile coupons? Yes, but it’s not a completely common occurrence.
Using a form of digital marketing that is highly effective with their core target customers, Planet Funk was able to identify and develop a new, highly profitable marketing channel for its all-important holiday season. From just one inbound mobile marketing campaign, Planet Funk achieved amazing results, and now plans to expand their mobile strategy in the future.
Mobile is a natural fit for our customers and being able to give them such coupons - both in store and online - that can be instantly received on their cell phones is a no-brainer, said Kitri Lomaka of Planet Funk. The results we experienced proved this and we look forward to continuing our partnership with mobileStorm to drive future mobile campaigns. We now realize that mobile marketing can not only be affordable for companies like ours, but also wildly profitable if handled the right way.
Mobile coupons, and mobile marketing in general, has continued to prove itself in situations where ROI, targetability, and overall trackability are of the most important aspects. In a down economy when every penny spent on marketing needs to be accountable, no other channel out-performs the mobile channel.
In June of 2008 before things really started to go downhill, Hitwise came out with a report showing that 6 out of 10 coupon searches online were for major brands, explained Reitzin when speaking of the future of mobile coupons. What this means is that people still want to stick with their brands even in a recession. They are going to actively seek out the brands they can’t live without, and there is no better way to get a discount than through a coupon. Furthermore, mobile coupons are digital, so not only are you saving the environment but your coupons can be saved, stored and accessed at anytime.
Coupons have been around since the old Sears catalogues of the 1800’s because they are a successful promotion. Their evolution to the mobile phone is only natural and they will be around a long time to come.
Source: Mobile Marketing Watch
Posted: 16 Mar 2009 10:19 AM PDT
Planet Funk, an apparel retailer with stores in California, Texas and Colorado, was facing the daunting task of bolstering its sales through what many had said would be the worst holiday shopping season in decades.
Planet Funk took a look at its primary demographic of young, hip consumers who are never without their cell phones, and decided that mobile marketing was the appropriate channel to move forward with. By combining both brick and mortar storefronts with an online presence, Planet Funk needed something that would bridge the gap and work efficiently, while also being as simple as possible to use and highly trackable.
Planet Funk, who has a long history of using digital marketing very effectively, decided that mobile marketing, and specifically mobile coupons, would be the right choice. The retailer enlisted the help of mobileStorm, a digital marketing company with a long history of success, to aid in the development, distribution and tracking of a full-scale mobile coupon campaign. MobileStorm had been providing email campaigns for Planet Funk for quite a while using the mobileStorm 4.0 digital marketing platform, so the familiarity of the platform extended to the new mobile coupon system that was recently integrated.
In a matter of days, with the infamous Black Friday looming ahead, Planet Funk and mobileStorm compiled a mobile coupon campaign based on discount tiers, which offers more savings dependant on the total purchase amount at coupon redemption- $10 coupon for spending $100-$249, $30 coupon for spending $250-$399, and so on.
Discount tiers always have a successful psychological effect on consumers, said Jared Reitzin, CEO of mobileStorm. Most of the time they past the first tier in spending with the first few things they buy, and having the second and third tier really helps them go to the next level. You start thinking about buying just one more thing so you can get that next discount.
To accomodate a fast launch, mobileStorm secured the keyword Pfunk for branding purposes, and utilized a shared shortcode to bring the campaign to fruition as quickly as possible. The campaign officially launched on November 21st, 2008, and utilized a variety of call-to-actions to drive traffic to the campaign. Signage was placed in all Planet Funks stores that showed the shortcode and corresponding keyword, and prompted a coupon as incentive to join the Planet Funk mobile club. In addition, Planet Funk pushed its mobile coupons via its Website, blog and the Websites of the malls in which Planet Funk stores are located. The key to the campaign, however, was the fact that the discounts could only be redeemed via the mobile coupon.
It’s always better to use an array of marketing mediums simultaneously, explained Jason Stith, Director of Sales Engineering for mobileStorm. With an inbound mobile coupon campaign, you are not only delivering coupons and trying to generate revenue via coupons, but you're also incentivizing your customers to text in and receive future offers. It’s very important to continually build your SMS database and coupons are a great aid in doing so.
By limiting the end-discount to the redemption of the mobile coupon itself, it creates a massive incentive to sign up for future communication. In Planet Funks case, signing up for its mobile club was all that was needed to redeem the savings via the mobile coupon. Planet Funk benefits by adding mobile consumers to its all-important mobile database, and the consumer benefits by receiving the savings via mobile coupons.
By the conclusion of the campaign on December 31, 2008, Planet Funk realized they had created over 20% of their total December revenue via the mobile coupon campaign...roughly 2,000 coupons were generated, with a redemption rate at an impressive 91%. Even more impressive was the fact that Planet Funk realized an ROI at a staggering 377% based on the relatively low-cost of the campaign. Furthermore, 15% of those that redeemed the coupon opted-in to receive future mobile campaigns, which helped build Planet Funks mobile database.
I don’t care what industry you are in or what you are selling, a 91% redemption rate is huge, continued Reitzin. Have we seen it before with mobile coupons? Yes, but it’s not a completely common occurrence.
Using a form of digital marketing that is highly effective with their core target customers, Planet Funk was able to identify and develop a new, highly profitable marketing channel for its all-important holiday season. From just one inbound mobile marketing campaign, Planet Funk achieved amazing results, and now plans to expand their mobile strategy in the future.
Mobile is a natural fit for our customers and being able to give them such coupons - both in store and online - that can be instantly received on their cell phones is a no-brainer, said Kitri Lomaka of Planet Funk. The results we experienced proved this and we look forward to continuing our partnership with mobileStorm to drive future mobile campaigns. We now realize that mobile marketing can not only be affordable for companies like ours, but also wildly profitable if handled the right way.
Mobile coupons, and mobile marketing in general, has continued to prove itself in situations where ROI, targetability, and overall trackability are of the most important aspects. In a down economy when every penny spent on marketing needs to be accountable, no other channel out-performs the mobile channel.
In June of 2008 before things really started to go downhill, Hitwise came out with a report showing that 6 out of 10 coupon searches online were for major brands, explained Reitzin when speaking of the future of mobile coupons. What this means is that people still want to stick with their brands even in a recession. They are going to actively seek out the brands they can’t live without, and there is no better way to get a discount than through a coupon. Furthermore, mobile coupons are digital, so not only are you saving the environment but your coupons can be saved, stored and accessed at anytime.
Coupons have been around since the old Sears catalogues of the 1800’s because they are a successful promotion. Their evolution to the mobile phone is only natural and they will be around a long time to come.
Google (Finally) Launches AdSense For Mobile Search
Originally Posted: 11 Feb 2009 08:35 AM CST
Source: Mobile Market Watch
For being such a behemoth in the advertising world, Google has been a bit slow at launching mobile-versions of their platforms- most importantly, AdSense for mobile.
AdSense for mobile was launched, in its basic form, back in September of 2007. Now, the search giant has finally added to its offerings and launched AdSense for mobile search- which should appease mobile publishers and webmasters that have been waiting a long time for the addition.
AdSense for search allows mobile publishers to embed a Google search box on their mobile site, just like they would for traditional websites. Search result pages are hosted by Google, and these pages can be customized with your logo, and custom footer links. Site owners make commissions on clicks generated from ads alongside search results. This method has been very popular, and lucrative, for traditional web publishers, so hopefully its success will extend to mobile as well.
Source: Mobile Market Watch
For being such a behemoth in the advertising world, Google has been a bit slow at launching mobile-versions of their platforms- most importantly, AdSense for mobile.
AdSense for mobile was launched, in its basic form, back in September of 2007. Now, the search giant has finally added to its offerings and launched AdSense for mobile search- which should appease mobile publishers and webmasters that have been waiting a long time for the addition.
AdSense for search allows mobile publishers to embed a Google search box on their mobile site, just like they would for traditional websites. Search result pages are hosted by Google, and these pages can be customized with your logo, and custom footer links. Site owners make commissions on clicks generated from ads alongside search results. This method has been very popular, and lucrative, for traditional web publishers, so hopefully its success will extend to mobile as well.
U.S. knocks Britain to claim top spot for mobile Web browsing, spending: Bango
EDITOR'S NOTE: These figures will continue to increase as time goes on and more people get connected to the mobile web. Look for our AdPix.mobi picture & text advertising product to be released this month!
By Dan Butcher
Posted March 16, 2009 on MobileMarketer.com
The United States has knocked Britain off the top slot for mobile Web browsing with 29 percent of the worldwide traffic, according to mobile analytics and billing company Bango.
The good news for content providers is that growth in traffic is matched by growth in users paying for content on the mobile Web. When it comes to payments, the U.S. is accelerating faster than any other country and now accounts for 57 percent of mobile payments worldwide.
“Bango’s view of the mobile Web and spending is rosy, because even though the world is going through a recession, we’re seeing an increase in businesses that are charging for content via a mobile Web experience, as opposed to SMS,” said Sarah Keefe, Cambridge, England-based vice president of marketing for Bango.
“We’re seeing the growth and migration towards the mobile Web way of selling content,” she said.
With 245 million subscribers, it was only a matter of time before the U.S. became the No. 1 country in the world for mobile Web browsing.
The first is the iPhone effect.
“Because of the iPhone’s wonderful user interface, more people are motivated to browse,” Ms. Keefe said. “The iPhone is selling well, and while the majority of U.S. consumers are using other devices, Apple’s marketing has encouraged [even people with other Web-enabled handsets] to find content on the mobile Web as well.”
The second is the introduction of flat-rate data plans.
“All-you-can-eat data plans make it so much more affordable for people to browse the Internet on their phone,” Ms. Keefe said.
The third is the fact that mobile phones have become much more sophisticated, with advanced 3G networks and bigger displays.
“All of those technology factors have made a big difference in the popularity of browsing the mobile Web,” Ms. Keefe said.
Bango claims to have made carrier billing more efficient by enabling people to single-click to buy and download content straight to their mobile handsets.
This optimized user experience has increased conversion rates so that mobile advertising and search marketing is now a profitable way of generating leads for Bango's customers.
The publicity behind the Apple iPhone has encouraged more people to browse the mobile Web in countries such as the U.S. and Britain.
But this increase in mobile browsing has taken businesses by surprise, as many don’t have mobile Web sites.
Many companies have no idea that they have visitors from mobile devices accessing their PC Web site.
To combat the lack of awareness, Bango created a short video at http://www.bango.com/mobiletracking that explains how to track mobile traffic.
The February Bango statistics identified mobile Web browsers from a total of 208 different countries and using 1,811 different handsets.
View a sample of the mobile traffic going through the Bango system at http://bango.com/live.
The statistics also show that while some countries such as India and Indonesia have a good appetite for browsing on their mobile phones, it doesn’t always convert into purchases.
In fact, only five countries in the top 10 browsing chart are also in the top 10 payments chart— the U.S., Britain, Portugal, South Africa and Spain.
No matter how high the browsing rate, it is only converted into a high-purchase rate where people have a good disposable income and can pay for content on their phone bills.
In regions such as India, South Africa, Indonesia and Egypt, the driver for mobile browsing is a lack of fixed-line broadband and PCs for accessing the Internet, which means that the mobile device is the only way people can get onto the Internet.
Such behavior proves the growing popularity of the mobile Web.
“Mobile Web payments have seen a huge increase, which is quite important, because so much of the industry has been driven by SMS, which has its limitations, like the various lawsuits, disadvantages particularly in the way services are communicated to the customers,” Ms. Keefe said. “The mobile Web can overcome inaccuracies, and it is integral into one flow.
“You see a mobile ad or search for some content on a mobile phone and you arrive at a mobile Web site where service or content is for sale, which very clearly shows you the price, the renewal period and all terms and conditions associated with that service,” she said.
“You click pay to proceed, and on the mobile Web you get far fewer support issues and refunds, because it’s so much clearer to people what they’re actually purchasing and it offers a streamlined user experience.”
Bango has partnered with Sprint, AT&T and Virgin Mobile, and is currently working on integration with T-Mobile.
“Carriers are very much supporting this move bringing the off-deck mobile Web experience to the U.S. market, because of reduced headaches they’ve had supporting end-users that have had a bad experience with SMS,” Ms. Keefe said.
“For consumers it’s just one click," she said. "They don’t have to enter any details. We go straight to operators for billing, the process takes between two and six seconds, we pass the end-user back to content provider site, who is then presented with the download.
“People paying for and downloading content via mobile Web is a whole new way of doing business, and the carriers are part of that equation, because it drives data traffic and they are a part of the billing step.”
By Dan Butcher
Posted March 16, 2009 on MobileMarketer.com
The United States has knocked Britain off the top slot for mobile Web browsing with 29 percent of the worldwide traffic, according to mobile analytics and billing company Bango.
The good news for content providers is that growth in traffic is matched by growth in users paying for content on the mobile Web. When it comes to payments, the U.S. is accelerating faster than any other country and now accounts for 57 percent of mobile payments worldwide.
“Bango’s view of the mobile Web and spending is rosy, because even though the world is going through a recession, we’re seeing an increase in businesses that are charging for content via a mobile Web experience, as opposed to SMS,” said Sarah Keefe, Cambridge, England-based vice president of marketing for Bango.
“We’re seeing the growth and migration towards the mobile Web way of selling content,” she said.
With 245 million subscribers, it was only a matter of time before the U.S. became the No. 1 country in the world for mobile Web browsing.
The first is the iPhone effect.
“Because of the iPhone’s wonderful user interface, more people are motivated to browse,” Ms. Keefe said. “The iPhone is selling well, and while the majority of U.S. consumers are using other devices, Apple’s marketing has encouraged [even people with other Web-enabled handsets] to find content on the mobile Web as well.”
The second is the introduction of flat-rate data plans.
“All-you-can-eat data plans make it so much more affordable for people to browse the Internet on their phone,” Ms. Keefe said.
The third is the fact that mobile phones have become much more sophisticated, with advanced 3G networks and bigger displays.
“All of those technology factors have made a big difference in the popularity of browsing the mobile Web,” Ms. Keefe said.
Bango claims to have made carrier billing more efficient by enabling people to single-click to buy and download content straight to their mobile handsets.
This optimized user experience has increased conversion rates so that mobile advertising and search marketing is now a profitable way of generating leads for Bango's customers.
The publicity behind the Apple iPhone has encouraged more people to browse the mobile Web in countries such as the U.S. and Britain.
But this increase in mobile browsing has taken businesses by surprise, as many don’t have mobile Web sites.
Many companies have no idea that they have visitors from mobile devices accessing their PC Web site.
To combat the lack of awareness, Bango created a short video at http://www.bango.com/mobiletracking that explains how to track mobile traffic.
The February Bango statistics identified mobile Web browsers from a total of 208 different countries and using 1,811 different handsets.
View a sample of the mobile traffic going through the Bango system at http://bango.com/live.
The statistics also show that while some countries such as India and Indonesia have a good appetite for browsing on their mobile phones, it doesn’t always convert into purchases.
In fact, only five countries in the top 10 browsing chart are also in the top 10 payments chart— the U.S., Britain, Portugal, South Africa and Spain.
No matter how high the browsing rate, it is only converted into a high-purchase rate where people have a good disposable income and can pay for content on their phone bills.
In regions such as India, South Africa, Indonesia and Egypt, the driver for mobile browsing is a lack of fixed-line broadband and PCs for accessing the Internet, which means that the mobile device is the only way people can get onto the Internet.
Such behavior proves the growing popularity of the mobile Web.
“Mobile Web payments have seen a huge increase, which is quite important, because so much of the industry has been driven by SMS, which has its limitations, like the various lawsuits, disadvantages particularly in the way services are communicated to the customers,” Ms. Keefe said. “The mobile Web can overcome inaccuracies, and it is integral into one flow.
“You see a mobile ad or search for some content on a mobile phone and you arrive at a mobile Web site where service or content is for sale, which very clearly shows you the price, the renewal period and all terms and conditions associated with that service,” she said.
“You click pay to proceed, and on the mobile Web you get far fewer support issues and refunds, because it’s so much clearer to people what they’re actually purchasing and it offers a streamlined user experience.”
Bango has partnered with Sprint, AT&T and Virgin Mobile, and is currently working on integration with T-Mobile.
“Carriers are very much supporting this move bringing the off-deck mobile Web experience to the U.S. market, because of reduced headaches they’ve had supporting end-users that have had a bad experience with SMS,” Ms. Keefe said.
“For consumers it’s just one click," she said. "They don’t have to enter any details. We go straight to operators for billing, the process takes between two and six seconds, we pass the end-user back to content provider site, who is then presented with the download.
“People paying for and downloading content via mobile Web is a whole new way of doing business, and the carriers are part of that equation, because it drives data traffic and they are a part of the billing step.”
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Mobile advertising moving from experimental to essential: Nielsen
By Dan Butcher
Posted March 13, 2009 on MobileMarketer.com
NEW YORK - As mobile attains greater reach, brands are shifting their views of the mobile channel—more and more think of mobile as essential, rather than experimental.
That was the view of a senior executive at market researcher Nielsen during her presentation at yesterday’s digiday: Mobile conference in New York. The company presented key trends in the mobile space, including the mobile Internet, moving from browsing to social networking and video; the iPhone effect and the next gear in consumption; the influence of youth ages 13-24 driving change; and mobile advertising evolving from experimental to essential.
“Advertisers want audiences, and we’ve already arrived at very real, substantive audiences on mobile,” said Julia Resnick, vice president of mobile media solutions for Nielsen, New York. “It’s snowballing in terms of adoption and usage.”
According to Nielsen’s numbers, mobile audiences are indeed big. There are 145 million mobile media consumers, with 127 million using SMS, 70 million downloading mobile content, 48 million using the mobile Internet and 12 million using mobile video.
As the audience grows, so does the revenue generated by sales of mobile content.
Mobile advertising: essential to brands
Mobile content revenue grew from $5.8 billion in the fourth quarter of 2007 to $7.9 billion in the fourth quarter of last year, representing year-on-year growth 60 percent greater than the Internet. Fifty-four percent of that revenue was generated by messaging—SMS and MMS.
Unique mobile Internet users grew from 37 million in January of last year to 48.2 million in December, a 30 percent jump over the course of the year.
“Social networking is a key frontier and an important point of engagement, as it’s grown two-and-a-half times in the past year,” Ms Resnick said.
In December, there were approximately 10.6 million people in the United States accessing social networks via the mobile Internet.
Interestingly, Facebook surpassed former category leader MySpace just after the launch of the iPhone 3G. By the end of the year, Facebook was approaching 7.5 million users.
“Off-deck video has the momentum—it’s not just about carrier portals and subscription-based content anymore,” Ms. Resnick said. “Consumers are browsing to mobile video independently of what’s available on their portal.
“Driven in part by young mobile video viewers, there’s also been a shift from news and information to entertainment content such as comedy, music and sports,” she said.
Teens aged 13-17 account for 21 percent of mobile video users. Teens are the leading consumers of several mobile video categories, including music, user-generated content and movie trailers.
“There is a growing trend opening up mobile video beyond TV networks to user-generated content from YouTube,” Ms. Resnick said.
From the third quarter to the fourth quarter of last year, YouTube jumped from No. 5 to become the No. 3 mobile video channel. Fox and the Weather Channel held down the top two slots, with MTV and Comedy Central rounding out the top five.
The popularity of smartphones is driving consumption of mobile content of all types.
“Smartphones provide a user experience that works,” Ms. Resnick said. “Smartphones—especially the iPhone—are driving growth and adoption of mobile Internet usage, apps downloads and consumption of mobile music and video.
“Location-based services are also snowballing in terms of number of users engaging with mobile content,” she said.
According to Nielsen, the iPhone has the highest levels of data usage across all categories, including the mobile Internet, apps, location-based services, full-track music and mobile video.
The iPhone comprises 10 percent of all mobile Internet users and 18 percent of all mobile music users—and it’s accelerating.
“More than half—55 percent—of all folks who acquired a device within the past six months bought some type of smartphone or 3G device,” Ms. Resnick said.
The popularity of the iPhone and competing devices such has RIM’s BlackBerry and HTC’s G1 on Google’s Android OS has been accompanied by the development of various off-deck marketplaces following Apple’s App Store model.
While more and more adults are discovering text messaging and the mobile Web, the youngsters are still the biggest consumers of mobile content.
Beyond messaging, teens are heavily engaged in mobile content, including video and mobile TV.
That means that the number of people that take the mobile phone for granted as their number-one communications device continues to grow, and more and more are looking at it as an entertainment device.
All of these trends spell opportunities for marketers.
“Young subscribers have been driving data consumption for some time, but mobile is getting even younger,” Ms. Resnick said. “The penetration of devices among younger consumers is shifting, with the average age at which kids get phones dropping rapidly, so penetration of mobile phones is increasing.
“Teens send an average of 2,300 text messages a month, and while advertising and marketing to teens has issues and privacy concerns, mobile represents a great opportunity to engage with kids and young adults,” she said.
Posted March 13, 2009 on MobileMarketer.com
NEW YORK - As mobile attains greater reach, brands are shifting their views of the mobile channel—more and more think of mobile as essential, rather than experimental.
That was the view of a senior executive at market researcher Nielsen during her presentation at yesterday’s digiday: Mobile conference in New York. The company presented key trends in the mobile space, including the mobile Internet, moving from browsing to social networking and video; the iPhone effect and the next gear in consumption; the influence of youth ages 13-24 driving change; and mobile advertising evolving from experimental to essential.
“Advertisers want audiences, and we’ve already arrived at very real, substantive audiences on mobile,” said Julia Resnick, vice president of mobile media solutions for Nielsen, New York. “It’s snowballing in terms of adoption and usage.”
According to Nielsen’s numbers, mobile audiences are indeed big. There are 145 million mobile media consumers, with 127 million using SMS, 70 million downloading mobile content, 48 million using the mobile Internet and 12 million using mobile video.
As the audience grows, so does the revenue generated by sales of mobile content.
Mobile advertising: essential to brands
Mobile content revenue grew from $5.8 billion in the fourth quarter of 2007 to $7.9 billion in the fourth quarter of last year, representing year-on-year growth 60 percent greater than the Internet. Fifty-four percent of that revenue was generated by messaging—SMS and MMS.
Unique mobile Internet users grew from 37 million in January of last year to 48.2 million in December, a 30 percent jump over the course of the year.
“Social networking is a key frontier and an important point of engagement, as it’s grown two-and-a-half times in the past year,” Ms Resnick said.
In December, there were approximately 10.6 million people in the United States accessing social networks via the mobile Internet.
Interestingly, Facebook surpassed former category leader MySpace just after the launch of the iPhone 3G. By the end of the year, Facebook was approaching 7.5 million users.
“Off-deck video has the momentum—it’s not just about carrier portals and subscription-based content anymore,” Ms. Resnick said. “Consumers are browsing to mobile video independently of what’s available on their portal.
“Driven in part by young mobile video viewers, there’s also been a shift from news and information to entertainment content such as comedy, music and sports,” she said.
Teens aged 13-17 account for 21 percent of mobile video users. Teens are the leading consumers of several mobile video categories, including music, user-generated content and movie trailers.
“There is a growing trend opening up mobile video beyond TV networks to user-generated content from YouTube,” Ms. Resnick said.
From the third quarter to the fourth quarter of last year, YouTube jumped from No. 5 to become the No. 3 mobile video channel. Fox and the Weather Channel held down the top two slots, with MTV and Comedy Central rounding out the top five.
The popularity of smartphones is driving consumption of mobile content of all types.
“Smartphones provide a user experience that works,” Ms. Resnick said. “Smartphones—especially the iPhone—are driving growth and adoption of mobile Internet usage, apps downloads and consumption of mobile music and video.
“Location-based services are also snowballing in terms of number of users engaging with mobile content,” she said.
According to Nielsen, the iPhone has the highest levels of data usage across all categories, including the mobile Internet, apps, location-based services, full-track music and mobile video.
The iPhone comprises 10 percent of all mobile Internet users and 18 percent of all mobile music users—and it’s accelerating.
“More than half—55 percent—of all folks who acquired a device within the past six months bought some type of smartphone or 3G device,” Ms. Resnick said.
The popularity of the iPhone and competing devices such has RIM’s BlackBerry and HTC’s G1 on Google’s Android OS has been accompanied by the development of various off-deck marketplaces following Apple’s App Store model.
While more and more adults are discovering text messaging and the mobile Web, the youngsters are still the biggest consumers of mobile content.
Beyond messaging, teens are heavily engaged in mobile content, including video and mobile TV.
That means that the number of people that take the mobile phone for granted as their number-one communications device continues to grow, and more and more are looking at it as an entertainment device.
All of these trends spell opportunities for marketers.
“Young subscribers have been driving data consumption for some time, but mobile is getting even younger,” Ms. Resnick said. “The penetration of devices among younger consumers is shifting, with the average age at which kids get phones dropping rapidly, so penetration of mobile phones is increasing.
“Teens send an average of 2,300 text messages a month, and while advertising and marketing to teens has issues and privacy concerns, mobile represents a great opportunity to engage with kids and young adults,” she said.
Brands increasing mobile spend despite economy: digiday panel
By Dan Butcher
Originally Posted March 13, 2009 on MobileMarketer.com
NEW YORK - Panelists at yesterday’s digiday: Mobile conference were bullish on the state of mobile marketing, despite the recession.
During the panel titled “The Elephant in the Room: The Economy,” panelists discussed remaining barriers for scale and how the industry is overcoming them, as well as the impact that the recession will have on mobile. Panelists stressed the fact that brands that integrate mobile into their overall marketing mix are seeing excellent ROI.
“Big brands that are proactive marketers are saying ‘We have to follow consumers, and they live on their cell phones,’” said Jordan Berman, executive director of media innovation for AT&T Mobility. “In a down economy, it’s time to ratchet up innovation while others entrench to grab market share when the economy improves.
“Some of the most established companies like P&G and Coca-Cola are embracing mobile,” he said. “Retailers are using the mobile phone as a marketing tool and a commerce platform, integrating mobile into their POS systems.
“As the biggest retailers cut man hours, the mobile phone becomes another sales assistant.”
According to one panelist, teens and young adults—well known for being heavy mobile users—seem to be less affected by the down economy.
“Teens and young adults are the people that care about mobile and will be most influenced by it,” said June Bower, vice president of marketing for Cisco-WebEx. “What’s interesting is that teens still have money to spend.
“Another audience that’s worthwhile to pursue is us—adults now are in a position where mobile marketing can be influential,” she said. “The iPhone has help spread the word so more people know that the Internet is on their phones.
“BlackBerry, Nokia, the iPhone and other smartphones have proliferated enough to be a pretty nice platform where advertisers can do more sophisticated, interesting things—there are so many more opportunities than just a banner ad.”
The mobile ecosystem is moving from mobile content publishers selling games, ringtones and wallpapers enabling complete transactions on the handset—currently representing 80 percent of all mobile content sales—to bigger brands launching more sophisticated, multi-platform initiatives.
“We’re very bullish—we feel that mobile has reached a tipping point, especially in the automotive, entertainment, retail and financial services sectors,” said Mitch Paletz, head of premium publisher partnerships for Nokia Interactive.
“We’re seeing repeat buyers, and while getting new organizations to invest in mobile is a little more challenging, there are other good signs, like global buys and up-front buys,” he said. “Big players like P&G, Unilever and Ford see value in adding mobile marketing and advertising into their mix.”
Brands need to take advantage of the unique aspects of the mobile channel, though.
“Banners are good in the short term—they’re most prevalent and they’re working today,” Mr. Paletz said. “In the longer term, brands should utilize consumer data as a way to inform mobile advertising—where they are, what they want to do, who they are, demographics.
“Mobile ad units need to change to be more appropriate,” he said.
As more companies in various sectors see competitors investing in mobile, more and more will follow suit.
“Mobile campaigns could act as a catalyst for competitors,” said Jorey Ramer, founder and vice president of corporate development for JumpTap. “Mobile is a differentiated medium that helps brands stand out where others might not be investing yet.
“Surveys are reflective of an increased investment in mobile, and we’re quite bullish even in this economic environment,” he said. “We’ve gotten over a lot of barriers—handset capabilities, browser capabilities, more standardization, mobile devices providing a better brand experience for advertisers.
“There’s also more consumer awareness of data services and more people are accessing the Internet with high-end phones.”
Marketers need to take advantage of technology and data assets to provide consumers with content that is relevant and resonates with them.
“With smartphones like the iPhone, mobile is getting to the point where it’s better than the Internet,” Mr. Ramer said. “It’s the Internet on steroids.”
One panelist cited three scenarios: companies with a younger early adopter target demographic that have to be in mobile, technology companies that want to be perceived as innovative and companies with experimental budgets willing to test pilot the medium.
While the third area has seen cuts, with fewer innovative budgets, the first two are going strong.
“We’ve been pleasantly surprised, as we have a lot of clients going into the basics in mobile, like SMS and mobile Web ads, looking for ROI,” said Maria Mandel, senior partner/executive director of digital innovation for Ogilvy. “Brands are going where the mass eyeballs are, and 60 percent of U.S. consumers use SMS and 20 percent use the mobile Web.
“We need to make it easier for brands to develop and create campaigns on mobile,” she said. “The iPhone made it easy to create and publish apps, and we need to make it easier across the entire ecosystem.”
The bottom line is that despite the recession, brands that have experimented with mobile in the past are increasing their mobile marketing spend, and even brands that haven’t used mobile to date are dipping their toes in.
“Is the economy affecting business? Yes,” said Rob Wilk, vice president of ChaCha. “However, creating an SMS ad doesn’t take a whole lot of work—it’s not a big production.
“We have seen people say, 'This is something I can really experiment with,’” he said. “It doesn’t take a million dollars or a ton of people on staff to produce results.”
Originally Posted March 13, 2009 on MobileMarketer.com
NEW YORK - Panelists at yesterday’s digiday: Mobile conference were bullish on the state of mobile marketing, despite the recession.
During the panel titled “The Elephant in the Room: The Economy,” panelists discussed remaining barriers for scale and how the industry is overcoming them, as well as the impact that the recession will have on mobile. Panelists stressed the fact that brands that integrate mobile into their overall marketing mix are seeing excellent ROI.
“Big brands that are proactive marketers are saying ‘We have to follow consumers, and they live on their cell phones,’” said Jordan Berman, executive director of media innovation for AT&T Mobility. “In a down economy, it’s time to ratchet up innovation while others entrench to grab market share when the economy improves.
“Some of the most established companies like P&G and Coca-Cola are embracing mobile,” he said. “Retailers are using the mobile phone as a marketing tool and a commerce platform, integrating mobile into their POS systems.
“As the biggest retailers cut man hours, the mobile phone becomes another sales assistant.”
According to one panelist, teens and young adults—well known for being heavy mobile users—seem to be less affected by the down economy.
“Teens and young adults are the people that care about mobile and will be most influenced by it,” said June Bower, vice president of marketing for Cisco-WebEx. “What’s interesting is that teens still have money to spend.
“Another audience that’s worthwhile to pursue is us—adults now are in a position where mobile marketing can be influential,” she said. “The iPhone has help spread the word so more people know that the Internet is on their phones.
“BlackBerry, Nokia, the iPhone and other smartphones have proliferated enough to be a pretty nice platform where advertisers can do more sophisticated, interesting things—there are so many more opportunities than just a banner ad.”
The mobile ecosystem is moving from mobile content publishers selling games, ringtones and wallpapers enabling complete transactions on the handset—currently representing 80 percent of all mobile content sales—to bigger brands launching more sophisticated, multi-platform initiatives.
“We’re very bullish—we feel that mobile has reached a tipping point, especially in the automotive, entertainment, retail and financial services sectors,” said Mitch Paletz, head of premium publisher partnerships for Nokia Interactive.
“We’re seeing repeat buyers, and while getting new organizations to invest in mobile is a little more challenging, there are other good signs, like global buys and up-front buys,” he said. “Big players like P&G, Unilever and Ford see value in adding mobile marketing and advertising into their mix.”
Brands need to take advantage of the unique aspects of the mobile channel, though.
“Banners are good in the short term—they’re most prevalent and they’re working today,” Mr. Paletz said. “In the longer term, brands should utilize consumer data as a way to inform mobile advertising—where they are, what they want to do, who they are, demographics.
“Mobile ad units need to change to be more appropriate,” he said.
As more companies in various sectors see competitors investing in mobile, more and more will follow suit.
“Mobile campaigns could act as a catalyst for competitors,” said Jorey Ramer, founder and vice president of corporate development for JumpTap. “Mobile is a differentiated medium that helps brands stand out where others might not be investing yet.
“Surveys are reflective of an increased investment in mobile, and we’re quite bullish even in this economic environment,” he said. “We’ve gotten over a lot of barriers—handset capabilities, browser capabilities, more standardization, mobile devices providing a better brand experience for advertisers.
“There’s also more consumer awareness of data services and more people are accessing the Internet with high-end phones.”
Marketers need to take advantage of technology and data assets to provide consumers with content that is relevant and resonates with them.
“With smartphones like the iPhone, mobile is getting to the point where it’s better than the Internet,” Mr. Ramer said. “It’s the Internet on steroids.”
One panelist cited three scenarios: companies with a younger early adopter target demographic that have to be in mobile, technology companies that want to be perceived as innovative and companies with experimental budgets willing to test pilot the medium.
While the third area has seen cuts, with fewer innovative budgets, the first two are going strong.
“We’ve been pleasantly surprised, as we have a lot of clients going into the basics in mobile, like SMS and mobile Web ads, looking for ROI,” said Maria Mandel, senior partner/executive director of digital innovation for Ogilvy. “Brands are going where the mass eyeballs are, and 60 percent of U.S. consumers use SMS and 20 percent use the mobile Web.
“We need to make it easier for brands to develop and create campaigns on mobile,” she said. “The iPhone made it easy to create and publish apps, and we need to make it easier across the entire ecosystem.”
The bottom line is that despite the recession, brands that have experimented with mobile in the past are increasing their mobile marketing spend, and even brands that haven’t used mobile to date are dipping their toes in.
“Is the economy affecting business? Yes,” said Rob Wilk, vice president of ChaCha. “However, creating an SMS ad doesn’t take a whole lot of work—it’s not a big production.
“We have seen people say, 'This is something I can really experiment with,’” he said. “It doesn’t take a million dollars or a ton of people on staff to produce results.”
Report: Text-Messaging Reduces Skin Cancer Exposure
EDITOR'S NOTE: For our text message and mobile web distributors, here is an excellent application that targets the health and wellness industries. Health food stores, vitamin shops, spas, massage therapists, chriropractors and more are all viable candidates for an application such as this.
Report: Text-Messaging Reduces Skin Cancer Exposure
By Michael Dinan, TMCnet Editor
We’ve reported...before of the increasingly central role that text-messaging plays in modern communications.
And whether people in the communications technology space are talking about how text-messaging and the mobile Web are emerging as core components of advertising...many analysts have called for global revenues to double, to $165 billion, by 2011.
This week, a Schaumburg, Illinoisr m-based dermatology organization says the technology can be used for medical prevention – and specifically, to reduce the incidence of skin cancer.
At a conference yesterday, officials with the American Academy of Dermatology reportedly said that texting can be used to encourage sunscreen use.
According to a study from Dr. Joseph C. Kvedar, associate professor of dermatology at Harvard University Medical School in Boston, text messaging reminders are effective in improving sunscreen usage.
Kvedar told conference attendees that for most people, cell phones, e-mail and text messaging are an integral part of how they communicate with one another and an ideal channel for health care professionals to reach patients with important reminders on taking their daily medications or even applying sunscreen.
“Our study was designed to determine if, in fact, daily text-messaging reminders encouraging people to apply sunscreen resulted in increased sunscreen usage,” Kvedar said.
That text-messaging has emerged as a primary form of communication certainly isn’t news to anyone with a cell phone. Next month, despite the apparent medical absence of embroiled third baseman Alex Rodriguez, the New York Yankees are even planning to use the technology to boost communications, service and security at their new stadium in the Bronx.
TMCnet reported here on the use of text messaging as mainstream communications among mobile phone users – about 42 percent of consumers use their mobile phones to text as much or more than they do to make calls, one survey finds.
Kvedar’s study watched 70 patients ranging in age from 18 to 72 who were asked to apply sunscreen daily for six weeks. Half of the patients were randomly selected to receive text messages via cellular phones and the other half did not receive reminders. Text message reminders were sent to participants each morning around 7 a.m., which stated the weather report and a reminder to apply sunscreen.
Get this: Kvedar evaluated patients’ adherence to daily sunscreen usage with an electronic monitoring device, which was strapped onto the tube of sunscreen. When the cap of the sunscreen tube was removed, the device sent a text message to researchers that then was recorded as evidence of sunscreen use.
At the end of the study period, Kvedar found that the subjects receiving text messages had a significantly improved rate of sunscreen application as compared to the control subjects. Specifically, the 35 subjects who received daily text message reminders to apply sunscreen had a mean daily adherence rate of 56 percent compared to a mean daily adherence rate of only 30 percent by the 35 subjects who did not receive reminders.
“The implications of this study extend well beyond sunscreen use to any situation where a reminder to adhere to a care plan would be useful to patients – such as taking once-a-day medications or dressing changes for post-surgery patients,” he said.
Report: Text-Messaging Reduces Skin Cancer Exposure
By Michael Dinan, TMCnet Editor
We’ve reported...before of the increasingly central role that text-messaging plays in modern communications.
And whether people in the communications technology space are talking about how text-messaging and the mobile Web are emerging as core components of advertising...many analysts have called for global revenues to double, to $165 billion, by 2011.
This week, a Schaumburg, Illinoisr m-based dermatology organization says the technology can be used for medical prevention – and specifically, to reduce the incidence of skin cancer.
At a conference yesterday, officials with the American Academy of Dermatology reportedly said that texting can be used to encourage sunscreen use.
According to a study from Dr. Joseph C. Kvedar, associate professor of dermatology at Harvard University Medical School in Boston, text messaging reminders are effective in improving sunscreen usage.
Kvedar told conference attendees that for most people, cell phones, e-mail and text messaging are an integral part of how they communicate with one another and an ideal channel for health care professionals to reach patients with important reminders on taking their daily medications or even applying sunscreen.
“Our study was designed to determine if, in fact, daily text-messaging reminders encouraging people to apply sunscreen resulted in increased sunscreen usage,” Kvedar said.
That text-messaging has emerged as a primary form of communication certainly isn’t news to anyone with a cell phone. Next month, despite the apparent medical absence of embroiled third baseman Alex Rodriguez, the New York Yankees are even planning to use the technology to boost communications, service and security at their new stadium in the Bronx.
TMCnet reported here on the use of text messaging as mainstream communications among mobile phone users – about 42 percent of consumers use their mobile phones to text as much or more than they do to make calls, one survey finds.
Kvedar’s study watched 70 patients ranging in age from 18 to 72 who were asked to apply sunscreen daily for six weeks. Half of the patients were randomly selected to receive text messages via cellular phones and the other half did not receive reminders. Text message reminders were sent to participants each morning around 7 a.m., which stated the weather report and a reminder to apply sunscreen.
Get this: Kvedar evaluated patients’ adherence to daily sunscreen usage with an electronic monitoring device, which was strapped onto the tube of sunscreen. When the cap of the sunscreen tube was removed, the device sent a text message to researchers that then was recorded as evidence of sunscreen use.
At the end of the study period, Kvedar found that the subjects receiving text messages had a significantly improved rate of sunscreen application as compared to the control subjects. Specifically, the 35 subjects who received daily text message reminders to apply sunscreen had a mean daily adherence rate of 56 percent compared to a mean daily adherence rate of only 30 percent by the 35 subjects who did not receive reminders.
“The implications of this study extend well beyond sunscreen use to any situation where a reminder to adhere to a care plan would be useful to patients – such as taking once-a-day medications or dressing changes for post-surgery patients,” he said.
Canadian Mobile Advertising Upside
EDITOR'S NOTE: This is an especially relevant article for Canadian entreprenuers as our new AdPix.mobi Mobile Web Ad Service is due to be launched this month and will work in Canada as well as any part of the world where there are cell phones with Internet access!
Originally Posted MARCH 13, 2009 on eMarketer.com
Experiencing relatively high growth, but a relatively low market share,
mobile advertising in Canada is emerging.
According to the Interactive Advertising Bureau of Canada (IAB), mobile ad spending grew by 143% in 2007 with revenues reaching C$2.66 million ($2.06 million).
2008 revenues increased a projected 96% to C$5.21 million ($4.04 million).
As impressive as the growth is, perspective is needed. eMarketer estimated that $648 million was spent on US mobile ads in 2008.
The majority of mobile ad revenues came though standard SMS text message vehicles, followed by mobile content, mobile Internet display ads and mobile applications.
Like any emerging medium, mobile advertising faces hurdles that prevent wider adoption. According to an IAB survey of mobile marketers, the three most formidable challenges were low levels of advertiser understanding, small audience size and difficulty demonstrating ROI to potential advertisers.
Many of those concerns, however, lessen with more experience with the medium. Right now, mobile advertising is a very small piece of the Canadian advertising market. It has room to grow.
Originally Posted MARCH 13, 2009 on eMarketer.com
Experiencing relatively high growth, but a relatively low market share,
mobile advertising in Canada is emerging.
According to the Interactive Advertising Bureau of Canada (IAB), mobile ad spending grew by 143% in 2007 with revenues reaching C$2.66 million ($2.06 million).
2008 revenues increased a projected 96% to C$5.21 million ($4.04 million).
As impressive as the growth is, perspective is needed. eMarketer estimated that $648 million was spent on US mobile ads in 2008.
The majority of mobile ad revenues came though standard SMS text message vehicles, followed by mobile content, mobile Internet display ads and mobile applications.
Like any emerging medium, mobile advertising faces hurdles that prevent wider adoption. According to an IAB survey of mobile marketers, the three most formidable challenges were low levels of advertiser understanding, small audience size and difficulty demonstrating ROI to potential advertisers.
Many of those concerns, however, lessen with more experience with the medium. Right now, mobile advertising is a very small piece of the Canadian advertising market. It has room to grow.
Businesses Save Money Through Interactive Outreach To Customers, According to Forrester
Published March 13, 2009
By Brendan B. Read, Senior Contributing Editor, TMCnet.com
Organizations seeking to reduce costs and improve customer service can do so by intelligently reaching out to customers through outbound notification: interactive voice messages, e-mail, and SMS, rather than relying on annoying one-way home phone ‘robocalls’.
A new report by Forrester Research “Proactive Outbound Notification Saves Money” and which is being publicized by SoundBite Communications discusses how the outbound notification market is evolving to address these new channels and consumer preferences.
These new means lead to savings on carrier, staffing, and infrastructure costs over live agent call handling. There are fewer incoming lines, decreased number of calls, and reduced long distance changes, along with fewer agents and support staff, and lower recruitment, training, and overhead costs. Rates range from $0.08 to $0.20 per message with SaaS [Much like Brandel's Mobile Messaging products] pricing and a small setup fee. In contrast other research indicates that live agent calls costs $5 per interaction.
The Forrester report, written by Vice President and Principal Analyst Elizabeth Herrell says traditional outbound voice messaging services that typically send calls to home phones are no longer adequate. They have major limitations that include:
* One-way communication, which prevents customers from responding easily, questioning the messages, or making changes to them. This restriction may generate more and expensive inbound calls to live agents
* Confusion and miscommunication with unclear messages may lead to increased customer dissatisfaction when customers cannot respond
* Single-channel use, what with many customers using multiple channels today. Also many people no longer use their home phones as their prime communication tool. Sources say increasing numbers of households have gone wireless-only
* Lack of personalization, which leads to ignored messages, and wasted money
* Lack of security, as anyone can listen to landline phone messages unless there is screening
Instead the new channels: e-mail, text, and mobile messaging, and smart use of and interactive voice messages have become preferred communication channels for many firms. These methods, which Forrester refers to as ‘interactive multichannel communications’, provide several benefits. These include:
* Messages reaching customers quickly and in the methods they prefer: SMS, e-mail messages, mobile phones, smartphones, or landline phones. This increases customer satisfaction due to the timely receipt of the messages
* Proactive contact with customers on matters of interest through customer opt-in. Customers react positively to companies that take a special interest in them and anticipate their needs. This results in better brand recognition and increased loyalty
Opt-in also has another key benefit: compliance with the new Federal Trade Commission regulations that take effect in September that require express written consent from customers before receiving pre-recorded marketing/sales messages. This can be done, said the report “at the same time they become customers and agree to the channel through which they want to receive relevant sales offers.”
* Anticipating customer needs, which eliminates repetitive inbound calls on common topics by proactively providing customer information on changes or account updates
“Customers appreciate receiving timely information that indicates the company is looking out for their best interests,” said the report.
* Alerting customers to special events, which helps predict customers’ interest and target promotions to generate new revenues. This supports marketing campaigns without the expense of other forms of expensive advertising.
“Customer service managers find that interactive proactive communications improve customer satisfaction and add value with personalized messages to individual recipients,” says the report. “While these services are typically applied to collections and emergency notifications services, newer customer support and sales and marketing notifications offer greater potential for differentiating services and engaging customers. Anticipating customers’ needs before they have to make a call not only saves money in handling customer calls but also creates interest in special marketing offers and services that your customers find valuable.”
"Proactive customer communications is evolving to address how consumers communicate today-primarily via mobile devices,” adds Mark Friedman, chief marketing officer for SoundBite Communications. “This Forrester report provides objective information on proactive customer communications. It is an excellent resource for any organization that values their customer relationships and would like to evaluate whether their existing communications strategy can support individual consumer communications preferences.”
Brendan B. Read is TMCnet’s Senior Contributing Editor
By Brendan B. Read, Senior Contributing Editor, TMCnet.com
Organizations seeking to reduce costs and improve customer service can do so by intelligently reaching out to customers through outbound notification: interactive voice messages, e-mail, and SMS, rather than relying on annoying one-way home phone ‘robocalls’.
A new report by Forrester Research “Proactive Outbound Notification Saves Money” and which is being publicized by SoundBite Communications discusses how the outbound notification market is evolving to address these new channels and consumer preferences.
These new means lead to savings on carrier, staffing, and infrastructure costs over live agent call handling. There are fewer incoming lines, decreased number of calls, and reduced long distance changes, along with fewer agents and support staff, and lower recruitment, training, and overhead costs. Rates range from $0.08 to $0.20 per message with SaaS [Much like Brandel's Mobile Messaging products] pricing and a small setup fee. In contrast other research indicates that live agent calls costs $5 per interaction.
The Forrester report, written by Vice President and Principal Analyst Elizabeth Herrell says traditional outbound voice messaging services that typically send calls to home phones are no longer adequate. They have major limitations that include:
* One-way communication, which prevents customers from responding easily, questioning the messages, or making changes to them. This restriction may generate more and expensive inbound calls to live agents
* Confusion and miscommunication with unclear messages may lead to increased customer dissatisfaction when customers cannot respond
* Single-channel use, what with many customers using multiple channels today. Also many people no longer use their home phones as their prime communication tool. Sources say increasing numbers of households have gone wireless-only
* Lack of personalization, which leads to ignored messages, and wasted money
* Lack of security, as anyone can listen to landline phone messages unless there is screening
Instead the new channels: e-mail, text, and mobile messaging, and smart use of and interactive voice messages have become preferred communication channels for many firms. These methods, which Forrester refers to as ‘interactive multichannel communications’, provide several benefits. These include:
* Messages reaching customers quickly and in the methods they prefer: SMS, e-mail messages, mobile phones, smartphones, or landline phones. This increases customer satisfaction due to the timely receipt of the messages
* Proactive contact with customers on matters of interest through customer opt-in. Customers react positively to companies that take a special interest in them and anticipate their needs. This results in better brand recognition and increased loyalty
Opt-in also has another key benefit: compliance with the new Federal Trade Commission regulations that take effect in September that require express written consent from customers before receiving pre-recorded marketing/sales messages. This can be done, said the report “at the same time they become customers and agree to the channel through which they want to receive relevant sales offers.”
* Anticipating customer needs, which eliminates repetitive inbound calls on common topics by proactively providing customer information on changes or account updates
“Customers appreciate receiving timely information that indicates the company is looking out for their best interests,” said the report.
* Alerting customers to special events, which helps predict customers’ interest and target promotions to generate new revenues. This supports marketing campaigns without the expense of other forms of expensive advertising.
“Customer service managers find that interactive proactive communications improve customer satisfaction and add value with personalized messages to individual recipients,” says the report. “While these services are typically applied to collections and emergency notifications services, newer customer support and sales and marketing notifications offer greater potential for differentiating services and engaging customers. Anticipating customers’ needs before they have to make a call not only saves money in handling customer calls but also creates interest in special marketing offers and services that your customers find valuable.”
"Proactive customer communications is evolving to address how consumers communicate today-primarily via mobile devices,” adds Mark Friedman, chief marketing officer for SoundBite Communications. “This Forrester report provides objective information on proactive customer communications. It is an excellent resource for any organization that values their customer relationships and would like to evaluate whether their existing communications strategy can support individual consumer communications preferences.”
Brendan B. Read is TMCnet’s Senior Contributing Editor
Txtlocal: The Case for SMS Marketing in Tough Times
EDITOR'S NOTE: Although this company is located in the UK, the message works here in the US, too. SME is a common European term for Small and Medium Enterprises.
Originally Posted Mar 13, 2009 (M2 PRESSWIRE via COMTEX)
SMS marketing is proving just the tool for shrewd businesses look for innovative new media strategies to keep themselves ahead of the game during the economic downturn.
SME's feeling the pinch are searching for ways to cut marketing spend without compromising results. It's now more important than ever for businesses to improve efficiency, reduce waste and produce targeted responsive marketing campaigns and digital mediums such as mobile are proving the ideal solution ensuring much needed return on investment.
Below are 6 key marketing objectives where Mobile Marketing can shine for any business.
1) Direct Response Advertising - For businesses feeling the pinch, return on investment is the key for ensuring profitability. It's now more important than ever to ensure advertising produces results and costly advertising campaigns may be great for raising brand awareness but are not always the best option for businesses looking for quick sales and ROI. Targeted bulk text campaigns to a qualified database coupled with a strong call to action can prove powerful in reaching impulse buyers at just the right time to entice a purchase. The key to the direct response lies with the fact people carry their phones with them wherever they go and therefore there is no more powerful way to reach people than by their phone and with 75% of people reading their texts immediately the direct impact can be huge. Statistics provided by the Mobile Data Association (MDA) found that response rates for mobile are 4 times higher than other direct marketing mediums such as DM and Email and at only a few cents a text and no production costs a simple text message equates to a fraction of the cost.
2) Customer Retention Marketing - Anyone with a qualification in marketing will know that long term clients are the most profitable. It's now more crucial than ever to ensure that businesses retain the customers they already have. Keeping customers will not only save businesses money but will make them money. According to a report by The Logic Group, loyal long standing customers account for over 50% of a company's annual sales, they are also higher value customers happy to pay premium rates of around 30% to 50% more per transaction. For this reason a CRM program is crucial and regular communication via new media techniques such as email and mobile is a key player in helping maintain communication. However, of course no one wants to be bombarded with endless SMS marketing campaigns but a friendly personalised offer or promotion at just the right time will do no harm to your relationship and could provide just the push you need to increase sales.
3) Viral Marketing - Viral marketing includes any strategy that encourages individuals to pass on marketing messages to others and with virtually the entire UK population owning at least one mobile phone, it's little wonder that mobile communication along with the web is a key viral marketing channel.
With people looking for bargains, text is proving more powerful than ever. Texts are the ideal viral marketing tool capable of reaching much further than initial recipients alone. Good offers and promotions are often shared amongst friends eager to spread the word of a good bargain. If businesses send out tempting offers and promotions then it's only human nature that people will want to share them and it couldn't be any easier or convenient to pass on a good tip to a friend than via a quick text. Also, people genuinely like receiving texts from friends, with a whopping 94% of texts being opened and read which offers great opportunities for marketers.
4) Integrated Marketing - Mobile works best when integrated with other larger campaigns and therefore it's important for it to be integrated into all marketing communications material such as newsletters, websites, e-marketing, POS, Outdoor, TV and radio in the same way a telephone or email address would be included. This gives customers and prospects another medium to get in touch, which many may view as easier than phoning or emailing. A quick text and people can easily register their interest in a product or service. E.g "Text BROCHURE + your email to 60777" All inbound opt-in details are stored in your online account for further contact.
Examples of this include businesses such as holiday and car companies that advertise heavily on television, radio and print, a punchy short code, is easy to remember and quick to respond to.
5) Lead Generation - So the question is how can marketers obtain good quality leads at a fair price? The tightening economy is sure to put lead generation tactics in the spotlight as businesses search for ways to generate new leads. Tactics such as Mobile Marketing enable businesses to build their own opt-in database of contacts at no extra cost, simply by publishing it on all marketing communications material. This is a much more practical way of operating than buying in cold call data from a broker. Displaying a Short Code should start to be general practice for every keen ROI business who will use mobile to generate warm leads to prospect to. For example "Text HONDA to 60777 - for details on latest Honda."
6) Measuring and Tracking Results During the tough economy it is more important than ever for businesses to implement marketing strategies that are trackable and measureable. There is no point investing in advertising if it's not properly monitored. It's important to track where sales are coming from then analyse the statistics and drop what's not working in favour of what does work. It doesn't cost anything to monitor where people heard of a business and SMS text promotions such as 2 for 1, free entry texts and buy one get one free are perfect for monitoring due to easy visual or coded redemption.
Mobile Marketing set for Growth
Although mobile marketing strategies are still unfamiliar to a vast amount of SME's, a recent survey by O2, predicts that mobile marketing is set to grow by 150% over the next 5 years as marketers seek a more targeted approach to their marketing campaigns. Mobile marketing firm www.txtlocal.co.uk have witnessed firsthand the growth in mobile marketing and agree that the trend is set to continue. Txtlocal MD Darren Daws comments that "A fraction can be spent on mobile marketing campaigns compared to other marketing mediums and yet the response from mobile can be much higher. SME's in particular need to ensure they generate a good return on their investment and low cost and targeted new media tactics including mobile will continue to be a popular choice." In conclusion as marketing budgets are streamlined, marketers need to push their case for value for money from advertising and marketing spend and moving more towards more measurable, ROI-focused media such as Internet and mobile marketing. Mobile tactics such as short codes and text messaging should be integrated into larger marketing campaigns as an aid to increase potential in terms of sales, lead generation and campaign measurability.
About txtlocal... A company much like Brandel, www.txtlocal.co.uk was launched in 2006 and is now the one of the UK's leading business SMS text messaging companies offering a range of services for a variety of organizations including pubs delivering 2 for 1 offers to local customers, bands making direct contact with fans, holiday parks promoting evening events, theatres growing an opt-in customer list to announce last minute tickets and much more.
Originally Posted Mar 13, 2009 (M2 PRESSWIRE via COMTEX)
SMS marketing is proving just the tool for shrewd businesses look for innovative new media strategies to keep themselves ahead of the game during the economic downturn.
SME's feeling the pinch are searching for ways to cut marketing spend without compromising results. It's now more important than ever for businesses to improve efficiency, reduce waste and produce targeted responsive marketing campaigns and digital mediums such as mobile are proving the ideal solution ensuring much needed return on investment.
Below are 6 key marketing objectives where Mobile Marketing can shine for any business.
1) Direct Response Advertising - For businesses feeling the pinch, return on investment is the key for ensuring profitability. It's now more important than ever to ensure advertising produces results and costly advertising campaigns may be great for raising brand awareness but are not always the best option for businesses looking for quick sales and ROI. Targeted bulk text campaigns to a qualified database coupled with a strong call to action can prove powerful in reaching impulse buyers at just the right time to entice a purchase. The key to the direct response lies with the fact people carry their phones with them wherever they go and therefore there is no more powerful way to reach people than by their phone and with 75% of people reading their texts immediately the direct impact can be huge. Statistics provided by the Mobile Data Association (MDA) found that response rates for mobile are 4 times higher than other direct marketing mediums such as DM and Email and at only a few cents a text and no production costs a simple text message equates to a fraction of the cost.
2) Customer Retention Marketing - Anyone with a qualification in marketing will know that long term clients are the most profitable. It's now more crucial than ever to ensure that businesses retain the customers they already have. Keeping customers will not only save businesses money but will make them money. According to a report by The Logic Group, loyal long standing customers account for over 50% of a company's annual sales, they are also higher value customers happy to pay premium rates of around 30% to 50% more per transaction. For this reason a CRM program is crucial and regular communication via new media techniques such as email and mobile is a key player in helping maintain communication. However, of course no one wants to be bombarded with endless SMS marketing campaigns but a friendly personalised offer or promotion at just the right time will do no harm to your relationship and could provide just the push you need to increase sales.
3) Viral Marketing - Viral marketing includes any strategy that encourages individuals to pass on marketing messages to others and with virtually the entire UK population owning at least one mobile phone, it's little wonder that mobile communication along with the web is a key viral marketing channel.
With people looking for bargains, text is proving more powerful than ever. Texts are the ideal viral marketing tool capable of reaching much further than initial recipients alone. Good offers and promotions are often shared amongst friends eager to spread the word of a good bargain. If businesses send out tempting offers and promotions then it's only human nature that people will want to share them and it couldn't be any easier or convenient to pass on a good tip to a friend than via a quick text. Also, people genuinely like receiving texts from friends, with a whopping 94% of texts being opened and read which offers great opportunities for marketers.
4) Integrated Marketing - Mobile works best when integrated with other larger campaigns and therefore it's important for it to be integrated into all marketing communications material such as newsletters, websites, e-marketing, POS, Outdoor, TV and radio in the same way a telephone or email address would be included. This gives customers and prospects another medium to get in touch, which many may view as easier than phoning or emailing. A quick text and people can easily register their interest in a product or service. E.g "Text BROCHURE + your email to 60777" All inbound opt-in details are stored in your online account for further contact.
Examples of this include businesses such as holiday and car companies that advertise heavily on television, radio and print, a punchy short code, is easy to remember and quick to respond to.
5) Lead Generation - So the question is how can marketers obtain good quality leads at a fair price? The tightening economy is sure to put lead generation tactics in the spotlight as businesses search for ways to generate new leads. Tactics such as Mobile Marketing enable businesses to build their own opt-in database of contacts at no extra cost, simply by publishing it on all marketing communications material. This is a much more practical way of operating than buying in cold call data from a broker. Displaying a Short Code should start to be general practice for every keen ROI business who will use mobile to generate warm leads to prospect to. For example "Text HONDA to 60777 - for details on latest Honda."
6) Measuring and Tracking Results During the tough economy it is more important than ever for businesses to implement marketing strategies that are trackable and measureable. There is no point investing in advertising if it's not properly monitored. It's important to track where sales are coming from then analyse the statistics and drop what's not working in favour of what does work. It doesn't cost anything to monitor where people heard of a business and SMS text promotions such as 2 for 1, free entry texts and buy one get one free are perfect for monitoring due to easy visual or coded redemption.
Mobile Marketing set for Growth
Although mobile marketing strategies are still unfamiliar to a vast amount of SME's, a recent survey by O2, predicts that mobile marketing is set to grow by 150% over the next 5 years as marketers seek a more targeted approach to their marketing campaigns. Mobile marketing firm www.txtlocal.co.uk have witnessed firsthand the growth in mobile marketing and agree that the trend is set to continue. Txtlocal MD Darren Daws comments that "A fraction can be spent on mobile marketing campaigns compared to other marketing mediums and yet the response from mobile can be much higher. SME's in particular need to ensure they generate a good return on their investment and low cost and targeted new media tactics including mobile will continue to be a popular choice." In conclusion as marketing budgets are streamlined, marketers need to push their case for value for money from advertising and marketing spend and moving more towards more measurable, ROI-focused media such as Internet and mobile marketing. Mobile tactics such as short codes and text messaging should be integrated into larger marketing campaigns as an aid to increase potential in terms of sales, lead generation and campaign measurability.
About txtlocal... A company much like Brandel, www.txtlocal.co.uk was launched in 2006 and is now the one of the UK's leading business SMS text messaging companies offering a range of services for a variety of organizations including pubs delivering 2 for 1 offers to local customers, bands making direct contact with fans, holiday parks promoting evening events, theatres growing an opt-in customer list to announce last minute tickets and much more.
Facebook Connects with iPhone
EDITOR'S NOTE: Watch for Brandel's new Mobile Web product, Mobile AdPix, scheduled for release March 2009!
Source: Mobile Marketing Watch
Originally Posted: 14 Mar 2009 12:12 PM PDT
Just as users are getting adjusted to the redesign over at Facebook.com, the no. 1 social network announced a biggie - Facebook Connect is finally functional for the iPhone. Announced this morning at the South By Southwest Festival, Facebook Connect for iPhone lets users link their apps with their Facebook profile to share their data with friends. That means Facebook's stake in the world wide web just got a bit bigger.
iPhone popularity is on the rise - it was only a matter of time before Facebook would get in on the game. Allowing users to connect with selected iPhone apps means that without much work, Facebook gets a piece of the mobile pie. With all the apps online and mobile, having one login for everything is convienent and at some point almost necessary. And once you have that one login, it becomes more of a pain to log out and move your information anywhere else.
For the first time, your iPhone apps can now have friends, said Morin, senior platform manager at Facebook to the SXSW crowd, reports PC Magazine.
Viral growth of mobile iPhone apps is here, thanks to Facebook. For mobile advertisers, this means that apps that use Facebook Connect will get more for those oh-so-precious eyeballs.
Morin invited several iPhone developers to show off their new functionality. Representatives from Playfish, Tapulous (of Tap Tap Revenge fame), and SGN showed off how Facebook Connect for iPhone will work with games. For instance, you can share your scores in your Facebook feed, see which of your friends are online, and invite both iPhone- and non-iPhone-using Facebook friends to play with you.
Source: Mobile Marketing Watch
Originally Posted: 14 Mar 2009 12:12 PM PDT
Just as users are getting adjusted to the redesign over at Facebook.com, the no. 1 social network announced a biggie - Facebook Connect is finally functional for the iPhone. Announced this morning at the South By Southwest Festival, Facebook Connect for iPhone lets users link their apps with their Facebook profile to share their data with friends. That means Facebook's stake in the world wide web just got a bit bigger.
iPhone popularity is on the rise - it was only a matter of time before Facebook would get in on the game. Allowing users to connect with selected iPhone apps means that without much work, Facebook gets a piece of the mobile pie. With all the apps online and mobile, having one login for everything is convienent and at some point almost necessary. And once you have that one login, it becomes more of a pain to log out and move your information anywhere else.
For the first time, your iPhone apps can now have friends, said Morin, senior platform manager at Facebook to the SXSW crowd, reports PC Magazine.
Viral growth of mobile iPhone apps is here, thanks to Facebook. For mobile advertisers, this means that apps that use Facebook Connect will get more for those oh-so-precious eyeballs.
Morin invited several iPhone developers to show off their new functionality. Representatives from Playfish, Tapulous (of Tap Tap Revenge fame), and SGN showed off how Facebook Connect for iPhone will work with games. For instance, you can share your scores in your Facebook feed, see which of your friends are online, and invite both iPhone- and non-iPhone-using Facebook friends to play with you.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Recession Forcing Automakers To Think About Mobile
Source: Mobile Marketing Watch
Originally Posted: 09 Mar 2009 11:30 AM PDT
Automakers have been among the hardest hit by the significant down-turn in our economy. While advertising budgets are usually the first to be cut, automakers face a catch-22 in that they need to boost advertising to bolster sales, but also need to reduce the outflow of cash for their advertising budgets.
A way for automakers to find common ground is to finally make the move to mobile advertising, which has among the highest ROI of any type of advertising these days. Beyond expensive TV advertising and traveling to all the auto shows, automakers are using things like mobile Web sites and SMS-based campaigns to help build an opt-in database.
Nissan and its luxury-subsidiary Infiniti have joined many others and taken the leap to mobile with the launch of separate mobile WAP-based and iPhone-optimized Websites. The sites feature galleries of the different models offered, as well as build-your-own functionality and the all-important opt-in request for more information. As people are looking for a new vehicle, the Internet is likely the first stop on anyone's search.
Unlike traditional Web sites where the automaker would have no idea of someone's interest in the brand, mobile Web sites allow for opt-in request and tracking capabilities. Solutions like Gumiyo take it a step further and offer direct SMS-based communication between the interested consumer and the dealer - creating an ever-growing mobile database along the way.
With dealers closing left and right, and automakers seeing double-digit losses month after month, every avenue should be explored, and at the moment, there's no better avenue than the solid use of mobile marketing.
Originally Posted: 09 Mar 2009 11:30 AM PDT
Automakers have been among the hardest hit by the significant down-turn in our economy. While advertising budgets are usually the first to be cut, automakers face a catch-22 in that they need to boost advertising to bolster sales, but also need to reduce the outflow of cash for their advertising budgets.
A way for automakers to find common ground is to finally make the move to mobile advertising, which has among the highest ROI of any type of advertising these days. Beyond expensive TV advertising and traveling to all the auto shows, automakers are using things like mobile Web sites and SMS-based campaigns to help build an opt-in database.
Nissan and its luxury-subsidiary Infiniti have joined many others and taken the leap to mobile with the launch of separate mobile WAP-based and iPhone-optimized Websites. The sites feature galleries of the different models offered, as well as build-your-own functionality and the all-important opt-in request for more information. As people are looking for a new vehicle, the Internet is likely the first stop on anyone's search.
Unlike traditional Web sites where the automaker would have no idea of someone's interest in the brand, mobile Web sites allow for opt-in request and tracking capabilities. Solutions like Gumiyo take it a step further and offer direct SMS-based communication between the interested consumer and the dealer - creating an ever-growing mobile database along the way.
With dealers closing left and right, and automakers seeing double-digit losses month after month, every avenue should be explored, and at the moment, there's no better avenue than the solid use of mobile marketing.
The US Takes Top Spot For Mobile Browsing & Payments
EDITOR'S NOTE: Watch for the release of our Mobile Web product, AdPix.mobi, later this month. It will allow consumers to link to your site to browse or purchase products!
Mobile Marketing Watch
Originally Posted: 12 Mar 2009 08:05 AM PDT
The US hasn't always been known for leading the way when it comes to mobile technology, but when it comes to certain aspects of mobile marketing, the US is leading the way.
This morning, Bango released some interesting statistics regarding the growing usage of mobile-based Web browsing and mobile spending in general. The US has surpassed the UK for the number one spot in mobile Web browsing with 29% of the worldwide traffic. Interestingly, the growth in mobile traffic has coincided with a massive growth in mobile users paying for mobile-based content in the US as well. According to Bango, the US now accounts for 57% of mobile spending worldwide.
This correlation is important to mobile advertisers because it signifies the relationship between mobile Web traffic, and the amount of that traffic that's converting in terms of mobile spending. Countries that have high mobile Web traffic, such as India and South Africa, dont always have the corresponding high levels of mobile spending like the US and UK which means the way people interact on the mobile Web differs greatly from region to region.
In the end, these statistics solidify the opportunities for mobile marketers in the US by proving that consumers who use the mobile Web are becoming more comfortable with spending via the mobile Web - which has been a major hurdle since the beginning. People haven't always been keen on paying for mobile content via their cell phone bills, but as technology and integration with mobile campaigns become more complex and prevalent, the usage numbers should steadily increase as well.
Mobile Marketing Watch
Originally Posted: 12 Mar 2009 08:05 AM PDT
The US hasn't always been known for leading the way when it comes to mobile technology, but when it comes to certain aspects of mobile marketing, the US is leading the way.
This morning, Bango released some interesting statistics regarding the growing usage of mobile-based Web browsing and mobile spending in general. The US has surpassed the UK for the number one spot in mobile Web browsing with 29% of the worldwide traffic. Interestingly, the growth in mobile traffic has coincided with a massive growth in mobile users paying for mobile-based content in the US as well. According to Bango, the US now accounts for 57% of mobile spending worldwide.
This correlation is important to mobile advertisers because it signifies the relationship between mobile Web traffic, and the amount of that traffic that's converting in terms of mobile spending. Countries that have high mobile Web traffic, such as India and South Africa, dont always have the corresponding high levels of mobile spending like the US and UK which means the way people interact on the mobile Web differs greatly from region to region.
In the end, these statistics solidify the opportunities for mobile marketers in the US by proving that consumers who use the mobile Web are becoming more comfortable with spending via the mobile Web - which has been a major hurdle since the beginning. People haven't always been keen on paying for mobile content via their cell phone bills, but as technology and integration with mobile campaigns become more complex and prevalent, the usage numbers should steadily increase as well.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Mobile Coupons are a Knockout Punch
Posted: 11 Mar 2009 09:52 AM PDT
According to USA Today’s article Coupon clicking: Sweet sound for Web marketers consumers are actively seeking out coupons online and coupon redemption has risen 7.5% in the fourth quarter of 2008. To take advantage of this marketers are beefing up their buys on search terms to include terms like “coupons” and “discounts.”
The article states that “the Web is the fastest growing coupon distribution medium for big marketers, up 80% in 2008.”
It seems that mobile coupons have impressive statistics as well. According to RCR Wireless, a recent mobile coupon campaign done by Kroger had a whopping 20% redemption rate compared to a typical 2% redemption rate for paper coupons.
So it seems that a web offer with mobile delivery of coupons is a smart one-two punch for marketers. Catch consumer's attention on the web where they are already looking for coupons and then tell them how to get the coupons delivered automatically in the one device they never go anywhere without.
According to USA Today’s article Coupon clicking: Sweet sound for Web marketers consumers are actively seeking out coupons online and coupon redemption has risen 7.5% in the fourth quarter of 2008. To take advantage of this marketers are beefing up their buys on search terms to include terms like “coupons” and “discounts.”
The article states that “the Web is the fastest growing coupon distribution medium for big marketers, up 80% in 2008.”
It seems that mobile coupons have impressive statistics as well. According to RCR Wireless, a recent mobile coupon campaign done by Kroger had a whopping 20% redemption rate compared to a typical 2% redemption rate for paper coupons.
So it seems that a web offer with mobile delivery of coupons is a smart one-two punch for marketers. Catch consumer's attention on the web where they are already looking for coupons and then tell them how to get the coupons delivered automatically in the one device they never go anywhere without.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Text messaging 'can enhance mobile marketing'
EDITOR'S NOTE: Watch for Brandel's new mobile web product scheduled for release March 2009!
March 5th 09, 09:04
Companies may benefit from lower marketing costs if they get involved with mobile website development and use text messaging to promote the new site, according to one expert.
Pinder Takhar of Dialogue Communications told the Technology for Marketing & Advertising show that mobile messaging can potentially cut costs when it comes to online marketing and offer a better way of directly reaching consumers.
For example, a retail organisation could send text messages to customers containing their latest offers and links to their mobile site rather than simply placing an ad on the internet, she suggested.
"Everyone has their mobile with them at all times now and if they see an offer they like [via mobile messaging] it is more likely to drive traffic into the store," Ms Takhar explained.
Global use of the mobile web rose by 12.1 per cent in January compared with the previous month, according to recent figures from Opera based on usage of its Mini mobile browser.
This news story was brought to you by Bluhalo, a leading UK digital agency.
March 5th 09, 09:04
Companies may benefit from lower marketing costs if they get involved with mobile website development and use text messaging to promote the new site, according to one expert.
Pinder Takhar of Dialogue Communications told the Technology for Marketing & Advertising show that mobile messaging can potentially cut costs when it comes to online marketing and offer a better way of directly reaching consumers.
For example, a retail organisation could send text messages to customers containing their latest offers and links to their mobile site rather than simply placing an ad on the internet, she suggested.
"Everyone has their mobile with them at all times now and if they see an offer they like [via mobile messaging] it is more likely to drive traffic into the store," Ms Takhar explained.
Global use of the mobile web rose by 12.1 per cent in January compared with the previous month, according to recent figures from Opera based on usage of its Mini mobile browser.
This news story was brought to you by Bluhalo, a leading UK digital agency.
Mobile Content Already Taking Over Online Advertising?
Originally Posted: 16 Feb 2009 03:07 PM CST
There was an interesting article over at Seeking Alpha that suggested that the mobile content market, growing as rapidly as it has in record time, is already set to overtake the online advertising market as soon as sometime this year.
While this might be an over-optimistic theory, it's very possible that 2009 will be the year that mobile content, and the subsequent integrated advertising, will outgrow the online-based market. Research firm Strategy Analytics forecasts the value of the mobile content market, including downloadable games, ringtones, wallpapers, video, mobile TV, text alerts and mobile web browsing - to grow 18 percent to $67 billion this year.
This number doesn't even reflect the rapid growth of the mobile-app market that has the potential to soon dominate mobile content and mobile marketing all together. Still, the numbers are impressive, and the time in which the market has grown is even more impressive.
As the types of mobile content diversify and new technologies and methods are introduced, the opportunities for mobile marketing will be as prevelant as ever. ROI and overall effectivemess is much higher with mobile than with online advertising, so as the content market evolves, mobile marketing will prove to be a much better choice for any type of advertiser - large and small.
There was an interesting article over at Seeking Alpha that suggested that the mobile content market, growing as rapidly as it has in record time, is already set to overtake the online advertising market as soon as sometime this year.
While this might be an over-optimistic theory, it's very possible that 2009 will be the year that mobile content, and the subsequent integrated advertising, will outgrow the online-based market. Research firm Strategy Analytics forecasts the value of the mobile content market, including downloadable games, ringtones, wallpapers, video, mobile TV, text alerts and mobile web browsing - to grow 18 percent to $67 billion this year.
This number doesn't even reflect the rapid growth of the mobile-app market that has the potential to soon dominate mobile content and mobile marketing all together. Still, the numbers are impressive, and the time in which the market has grown is even more impressive.
As the types of mobile content diversify and new technologies and methods are introduced, the opportunities for mobile marketing will be as prevelant as ever. ROI and overall effectivemess is much higher with mobile than with online advertising, so as the content market evolves, mobile marketing will prove to be a much better choice for any type of advertiser - large and small.
The Future Of Twitter And Mobile Coupons
EDITOR'S NOTE: Brandel's President, Ben Deleon, purchased the domain name mobcoupons.com in October of 2004. Watch for our announcement of http://adpix.mobi, allowing advertisers to make their graphical coupons appear on mobile phones all over the world!
Originally Posted: 26 Feb 2009 07:40 AM PST
Its an ever-growing trend, people searching online for coupons from their favorite stores and brands. In this economy, its as popular as ever, but one place people tend to overlook for deals, is Twitter.
Brands have flocked to Twitter to interact with consumers, and one way of doing so is to offer coupons in their Twitter feed. Consumers follow the brands Twitter feed which in turn comes up in their user-timeline, which is a feed of the latest updates from everyone a user is following. As the user checks updates, coupons from their favorite brands appear as they are posted.
The outcome is a direct (and completely free) distribution method for brands to extend their offerings and messages to consumers. Twitter Coupons have become so prevalent, in fact, that a trio of startups have already launched that aim to find, organize and even distribute the best coupons and deals on Twitter.
Coupon Tweet finds and organizes coupon tweets in real-time and reports them in a familiar Twitter-stream-based user-interface. The founders say they find an average of 1,500 coupon or deal-related tweets out of the some 4-5 million daily tweets on Twitter. Out of those, roughly 500 make it onto to the Coupon Tweet website.
CheapTweet is similar to Coupon Tweet in that it scours Twitter in real-time for coupons and deals, but differs in that it also allows users to vote the deals up and down using a Digg-like social-interface. Instead of finding and organizing deals and coupons found on Twitter, TwtQpon allows users to create Twitter Coupons using a very simple form, your Twitter login credentials and a short coupon based on 140 characters or less.
The underlying benefit to the massive growth of Twitter Coupons, is the fact that not only is it a free and highly targeted form of direct advertising for large brands, but also the perfect platform for the advancement of mobile coupons.
Twitter has been mobile since its inception, and a slew of mobile applications and WAP-based Websites have already been created to make Twitter a very usable mobile service. With nearly 1,500 coupons entering Twitter on a daily basis (and growing), the opportunity for savvy marketers to turn their Twitter Coupons into mobile coupons is growing by the minute.
Twitter users are already comfortable with reading and updating their Twitter feeds on-the-go with Twitter iPhone and Android applications, Java apps, Twitter's own very simple mobile Website, and a myriad of other ways. By incorporating a simple link to a mobile Website via Twitter coupons, users could redeem the coupons as soon as they see it in their update-timeline.
I see this becoming a huge benefit to mobile coupons, and one that might finally help bring the technology into the spotlight. Were still very much in the beginning stages, but already the benefits and potential are overwhelming. 1,500 new (mobile) coupons per day entering Twitter? I'd say opportunity has never knocked harder.
Originally Posted: 26 Feb 2009 07:40 AM PST
Its an ever-growing trend, people searching online for coupons from their favorite stores and brands. In this economy, its as popular as ever, but one place people tend to overlook for deals, is Twitter.
Brands have flocked to Twitter to interact with consumers, and one way of doing so is to offer coupons in their Twitter feed. Consumers follow the brands Twitter feed which in turn comes up in their user-timeline, which is a feed of the latest updates from everyone a user is following. As the user checks updates, coupons from their favorite brands appear as they are posted.
The outcome is a direct (and completely free) distribution method for brands to extend their offerings and messages to consumers. Twitter Coupons have become so prevalent, in fact, that a trio of startups have already launched that aim to find, organize and even distribute the best coupons and deals on Twitter.
Coupon Tweet finds and organizes coupon tweets in real-time and reports them in a familiar Twitter-stream-based user-interface. The founders say they find an average of 1,500 coupon or deal-related tweets out of the some 4-5 million daily tweets on Twitter. Out of those, roughly 500 make it onto to the Coupon Tweet website.
CheapTweet is similar to Coupon Tweet in that it scours Twitter in real-time for coupons and deals, but differs in that it also allows users to vote the deals up and down using a Digg-like social-interface. Instead of finding and organizing deals and coupons found on Twitter, TwtQpon allows users to create Twitter Coupons using a very simple form, your Twitter login credentials and a short coupon based on 140 characters or less.
The underlying benefit to the massive growth of Twitter Coupons, is the fact that not only is it a free and highly targeted form of direct advertising for large brands, but also the perfect platform for the advancement of mobile coupons.
Twitter has been mobile since its inception, and a slew of mobile applications and WAP-based Websites have already been created to make Twitter a very usable mobile service. With nearly 1,500 coupons entering Twitter on a daily basis (and growing), the opportunity for savvy marketers to turn their Twitter Coupons into mobile coupons is growing by the minute.
Twitter users are already comfortable with reading and updating their Twitter feeds on-the-go with Twitter iPhone and Android applications, Java apps, Twitter's own very simple mobile Website, and a myriad of other ways. By incorporating a simple link to a mobile Website via Twitter coupons, users could redeem the coupons as soon as they see it in their update-timeline.
I see this becoming a huge benefit to mobile coupons, and one that might finally help bring the technology into the spotlight. Were still very much in the beginning stages, but already the benefits and potential are overwhelming. 1,500 new (mobile) coupons per day entering Twitter? I'd say opportunity has never knocked harder.
Monday, March 2, 2009
T-Mobile's Data Revenue Way Up, Thanks To SMS
Originally Posted: 27 Feb 2009 02:24 PM PST
T-Mobile was hoping for a boost when it launched its 3G network late last year. All other major carriers had already developed their high-speed networks and had been benefiting off the additional revenue a 3G network can provide. T-Mobile got what they wanted - a significant boost in data-based revenue, but it was attributed to a spike in SMS usage rather than the use of its new 3G network.
In the fourth quarter alone, T-Mobile USA carried 57 billion text and multimedia messages, up from 49 billion in the third quarter and more than double the 24 billion it carried in fourth quarter of 2007. That led to a 31% increase in data revenue year-over-year and averaged out to $9.30 a month per subscriber, compared to $8.20 a month per subscriber a year earlier.
Verizon, Sprint and AT&T, who all already sport a 3G network, makes around $13.86, $14.50 and $16.30 per subscriber, respectively. With the lack of a high-speed data network, T-Mobile still profits considerably from data-usage which is almost entirely SMS and MMS until its 3G network can acquire a large enough footprint. To still be growing by 30% year-over-year shows the continued importance of SMS to carriers and marketers alike.
It is always hard to speculate, but even with the advancement of smartphones, the mobile Web and mobile technology in general, SMS continues to thrive and gain momentum.
T-Mobile was hoping for a boost when it launched its 3G network late last year. All other major carriers had already developed their high-speed networks and had been benefiting off the additional revenue a 3G network can provide. T-Mobile got what they wanted - a significant boost in data-based revenue, but it was attributed to a spike in SMS usage rather than the use of its new 3G network.
In the fourth quarter alone, T-Mobile USA carried 57 billion text and multimedia messages, up from 49 billion in the third quarter and more than double the 24 billion it carried in fourth quarter of 2007. That led to a 31% increase in data revenue year-over-year and averaged out to $9.30 a month per subscriber, compared to $8.20 a month per subscriber a year earlier.
Verizon, Sprint and AT&T, who all already sport a 3G network, makes around $13.86, $14.50 and $16.30 per subscriber, respectively. With the lack of a high-speed data network, T-Mobile still profits considerably from data-usage which is almost entirely SMS and MMS until its 3G network can acquire a large enough footprint. To still be growing by 30% year-over-year shows the continued importance of SMS to carriers and marketers alike.
It is always hard to speculate, but even with the advancement of smartphones, the mobile Web and mobile technology in general, SMS continues to thrive and gain momentum.
Texting surges as tool for more than just the young
By Tim Barker
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
03/03/2009
At first, it was just those silly kids pecking away on their cell phone keypads.
Now it's your neighbor eager to learn the name of the next St. Louis archbishop. It's a guy in Minneapolis scrambling to find a parking spot at the airport in time to catch his afternoon flight. It's your kid's elementary school, letting you know about tomorrow's snow day.
Like so many other things in the world of technology, texting got its start as a plaything of the young and hip. But today, it's rapidly evolving into a serious communication tool for schools, churches, governments, businesses and public health organizations.
"It's become well entrenched as an addition to the cell phone and e-mail," said Steve Jones, professor of communication at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
And everyone seems to be getting into the act.
Late last month, the Archdiocese of St. Louis announced that it will reveal, through a text message, the name of the new St. Louis archbishop, within five minutes of the Vatican's official announcement. President Barack Obama did a similar thing in last year's campaign when he announced his choice of running mate through a text message to supporters.
Retailers are using it to distribute sales updates. The Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport uses it to help people find parking: Text its SurePark service to get a list of lots with empty spaces. And universities around the nation include it in early warning systems — Washington University is testing its system this week —spurred by tragedies such as the 2007 Virginia Tech shootings.
Among those best positioned to monitor the rise of texting is Steve Kelley, chief executive officer of MessageBuzz, a five-year-old St. Louis firm that specializes in this sort of thing, managing cell phone-based marketing and communication systems for clients around the nation.
He's witnessed a slow, but steady, increase in number of people curious to know more about the options available.
"In the very beginning, I probably got a call every three months. Now we probably get 12 calls a day," Kelley said.
If it seems as if texting is a relatively new phenomenon, it's really just a matter of perspective. It's been around since the early 1990s, though our country has been rather slow to adopt it. That's changed quickly in recent years, however. Last year, in fact, a study by Nielsen Mobile found that cell phones in this country are now used more often for text messages than for phone calls.
There are range of factors — including the sheer convenience of it — contributing to the surge here and nationally. But two of them stand out to Nancy Garvey, a St. Louis-based AT&T marketing vice president.
Businesses, in particular, have benefited from access to unlimited texting plans that remove concerns over having to pay for each of those messages sent or received by employees and customers. And there's the proliferation of phones equipped with keyboards instead of keypads — eliminating laborious tapping required to send a message on a traditional cell phone.
"Once you put a full QWERTY keyboard in somebody's hands, it's just like e-mail," said Garvey, referring to the standard keyboard layout found on computers and typewriters.
The company's own networks have seen the impact of the changing text landscape. In 2007, AT&T carried 90 billion text messages; last year it was 243 billion.
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
03/03/2009
At first, it was just those silly kids pecking away on their cell phone keypads.
Now it's your neighbor eager to learn the name of the next St. Louis archbishop. It's a guy in Minneapolis scrambling to find a parking spot at the airport in time to catch his afternoon flight. It's your kid's elementary school, letting you know about tomorrow's snow day.
Like so many other things in the world of technology, texting got its start as a plaything of the young and hip. But today, it's rapidly evolving into a serious communication tool for schools, churches, governments, businesses and public health organizations.
"It's become well entrenched as an addition to the cell phone and e-mail," said Steve Jones, professor of communication at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
And everyone seems to be getting into the act.
Late last month, the Archdiocese of St. Louis announced that it will reveal, through a text message, the name of the new St. Louis archbishop, within five minutes of the Vatican's official announcement. President Barack Obama did a similar thing in last year's campaign when he announced his choice of running mate through a text message to supporters.
Retailers are using it to distribute sales updates. The Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport uses it to help people find parking: Text its SurePark service to get a list of lots with empty spaces. And universities around the nation include it in early warning systems — Washington University is testing its system this week —spurred by tragedies such as the 2007 Virginia Tech shootings.
Among those best positioned to monitor the rise of texting is Steve Kelley, chief executive officer of MessageBuzz, a five-year-old St. Louis firm that specializes in this sort of thing, managing cell phone-based marketing and communication systems for clients around the nation.
He's witnessed a slow, but steady, increase in number of people curious to know more about the options available.
"In the very beginning, I probably got a call every three months. Now we probably get 12 calls a day," Kelley said.
If it seems as if texting is a relatively new phenomenon, it's really just a matter of perspective. It's been around since the early 1990s, though our country has been rather slow to adopt it. That's changed quickly in recent years, however. Last year, in fact, a study by Nielsen Mobile found that cell phones in this country are now used more often for text messages than for phone calls.
There are range of factors — including the sheer convenience of it — contributing to the surge here and nationally. But two of them stand out to Nancy Garvey, a St. Louis-based AT&T marketing vice president.
Businesses, in particular, have benefited from access to unlimited texting plans that remove concerns over having to pay for each of those messages sent or received by employees and customers. And there's the proliferation of phones equipped with keyboards instead of keypads — eliminating laborious tapping required to send a message on a traditional cell phone.
"Once you put a full QWERTY keyboard in somebody's hands, it's just like e-mail," said Garvey, referring to the standard keyboard layout found on computers and typewriters.
The company's own networks have seen the impact of the changing text landscape. In 2007, AT&T carried 90 billion text messages; last year it was 243 billion.
Jay Leno Going Mobile?
Originally Posted: 26 Feb 2009 09:02 PM PST
The new Jay Leno show in the works for NBC may have a mobile component.
According to Jeff Zucker, NBC Entertainment President, more NBC programming will strive to be interactive in forthcoming seasons of original programming.
Speaking to a gaggle of reporters at the recent NATPE convention in Las Vegas, Zucker revealed that Leno’s new show may be the perfect show to first utilize the mobile channel to a “considerable extent.”
As a popular comedian famous for Jaywalking segments, it isn’t difficult to imagine the natural fit of mobile for Leno’s shtick. How it will all work (let alone turn out) is a mystery. But the point remains that NBC is leading the charge to make television viewing require a cell phone as much as it requires a remote control.
The advantages for the networks are obvious. With ad revenue down and more people using digital recording mechanisms to bypass commercial breaks, the mobile channel might be vital in securing new, effective, and lucrative advertising opportunities for networks that can’t afford to struggle indefinitely by sticking to an outdated model of commercial advertising.
The new Jay Leno show in the works for NBC may have a mobile component.
According to Jeff Zucker, NBC Entertainment President, more NBC programming will strive to be interactive in forthcoming seasons of original programming.
Speaking to a gaggle of reporters at the recent NATPE convention in Las Vegas, Zucker revealed that Leno’s new show may be the perfect show to first utilize the mobile channel to a “considerable extent.”
As a popular comedian famous for Jaywalking segments, it isn’t difficult to imagine the natural fit of mobile for Leno’s shtick. How it will all work (let alone turn out) is a mystery. But the point remains that NBC is leading the charge to make television viewing require a cell phone as much as it requires a remote control.
The advantages for the networks are obvious. With ad revenue down and more people using digital recording mechanisms to bypass commercial breaks, the mobile channel might be vital in securing new, effective, and lucrative advertising opportunities for networks that can’t afford to struggle indefinitely by sticking to an outdated model of commercial advertising.
Study: Local/Mobile Search Now Tops Print Yellow Pages
Originally Posted: 23 Feb 2009 08:27 AM CST
The print yellow pages has been the defacto source for local information for as long as many can remember. Those days are quickly changing now that local search, via mobile and web-based, are taking over the market.
TMP Directional Marketing and comScore lead a study on local search consumer usage that found that print Yellow Pages has been overtaken by search engines as the first place people turn to when looking for local businesses. In fact, about 30% of local business searchers now spend the majority of their time searching online instead of offline, up from 26% in 2007.
This shows a rather significant boost for local search, being that print yellow pages held the number one spot just last year at 33% of searches, followed by search engines at 30%. This year, by a small margin, search engines rank first with 31%, closely followed by print Yellow/White Pages at 30%, online Yellow Page-type websites at 19% and local search sites at11%.
Being that it only took a few years for online local search to overtake yellow pages, its only a matter of time before mobile-based local search via mobile applications, etc. become the number one source of local searches and information. The location-aware aspect of mobile devices makes local search a no-brainer, and will one day make traditional yellow pages completely obsolete.
The print yellow pages has been the defacto source for local information for as long as many can remember. Those days are quickly changing now that local search, via mobile and web-based, are taking over the market.
TMP Directional Marketing and comScore lead a study on local search consumer usage that found that print Yellow Pages has been overtaken by search engines as the first place people turn to when looking for local businesses. In fact, about 30% of local business searchers now spend the majority of their time searching online instead of offline, up from 26% in 2007.
This shows a rather significant boost for local search, being that print yellow pages held the number one spot just last year at 33% of searches, followed by search engines at 30%. This year, by a small margin, search engines rank first with 31%, closely followed by print Yellow/White Pages at 30%, online Yellow Page-type websites at 19% and local search sites at11%.
Being that it only took a few years for online local search to overtake yellow pages, its only a matter of time before mobile-based local search via mobile applications, etc. become the number one source of local searches and information. The location-aware aspect of mobile devices makes local search a no-brainer, and will one day make traditional yellow pages completely obsolete.
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